Indigenous communities are underserved by broadband internet providers, research shows.
Matsaw, 46, was about to graduate with a Ph.D. in water resources when the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020. A member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Matsaw lives with his wife, Jessica Matsaw, 35, and their four children in a three-bedroom house on the Fort Hall Reservation in southeastern Idaho.
Early on, the household of six relied on two mobile-data plans — Matsaw’s and Jessica’s — for all remote needs. That included the kids’ school, Jessica’s teaching, Matsaw’s university meetings for his thesis, and all family appointments. Recent research also highlights what has become a persistent problem. “Native American communities are underserved by broadband internet providers,” according to a report by the Brookings Institution, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.
“Moreover, some Native American households may lack a computer, relying instead on mobile devices to access the internet, which greatly limits their ability to work remotely,” they added. That’s compared to the 49% of Asian employees who worked remotely in June 2020, 31% of white workers, 26% of Black workers and 21% of Hispanic workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, about one-third of American workers worked from home during that time.
The access gap between tribal and non-tribal areas is approximately three times larger than the Black-white access gap, and about four times higher than the urban-rural one, research shows. Matsaw’s family moved back to the reservation in 2019, where they had a home, due to the high costs of living in the city near the university. When the pandemic began in early 2020, Matsaw’s brother was also staying with the family while he worked as a substitute teacher. The three-bedroom home hosted all the online meetings for three adults and four schoolchildren.
For indigenous workers with a higher education, finding and maintaining those networking opportunities can be hard, Matsaw told MarketWatch. Remote-working opportunities are few and far between, especially if people hope to stay close to their home community, he added. This summer, Arizona State University hired a Native American faculty member in a remote position, where the faculty member can research and teach from their home community.
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