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So many Latin American immigrants have come to the U.S. to work there's actually a labor shortage in countries like El Salvador.
In many cases, that shortage is being filled by residents of even poorer countries.
Reporter Andrea McCarren, photographer Dave Webb and Leon Harris recently saw the results of the immigration to North America first-hand.
Sugar is one of El Salvador's most important exports. But the industry is facing an unusual challenge-there are not enough Salvadorans willing to harvest and process the sugar cane.
"These tend to be the types of jobs that have very poor working conditions, are very hard jobs to do, dangerous and the pay isn't that great," said immigration expert Katherine Andrade.
In some regions of El Salvador, there's also a worker shortage in construction and road repair, as well as agricultural work. That's due to the large number of Salvadorans who have left their country and come to the U.S. in search of higher paid jobs.
"El Salvador has become the American dream for Hondurans and Nicaraguans," said Luis Felipe Romero of the United Salvadoran Communities of Washington.
Ironically, the sugar cane fields of El Salvador are now filled with Central Americans from more impoverished countries, like Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
"Those jobs that Nicaraguan and Hondurans take tend to pay $5-6 a day," said Andrade. "And $5-6 a day in this economy here means you're going to be living in perpetual poverty."
Since 2001, the currency in El Salvador has been the American Dollar, which goes farther in those countries than their own currencies.
"Why come to the U.S. when there are Dollars in El Salvador," said Luis Felipe Romero.
Some Salvadorans are simply not willing to do back-breaking work for low wages. For instance, sugar cane cutters under a blistering sun earn $1.63 for a 10 by 20 section of field. A worker skilled with a machete may be able to harvest 6 or 7 of those in a day.
Another issue is that some residents of El Salvador are content living off of the money sent from relatives working in the United States. That 3.6 billion dollar influx makes up about 18-percent of El Salvador's GDP.
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