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PewHispanic.org | Labor
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Founded in 2001, the Pew Hispanic Center is a non-partisan research organization supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Its mission is to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the entire nation. The Center does not advocate for or take positions on policy issues. It is a project of the Pew Research Center headquartered in Washington, DC.
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Unemployment Rose Sharply Among Latino Immigrants in 2008
The current recession is having an especially severe impact on employment prospects for immigrant Hispanics. The unemployment rate for foreign-born Latinos increased 2.9 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with an economy-wide increase of 2.0 percentage points. Trends in other key indicators, such as the employment rate, the number employed and labor force participation, also reveal a more severe impact on immigrant Latinos. Native-born Hispanics and blacks have also felt strong negative effects from the recession.
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Latino Workers in the Ongoing Recession: 2007 to 2008
A small but significant decline has occurred during the current recession in the share of Latino immigrants active in the U.S. labor force. The decrease is sharpest among immigrants from Mexico and among immigrants who arrived in the U.S. since 2000. But the increase in the unemployment rate for immigrant Hispanics so far is not as high as the increase for native-born Hispanics. This development, however, could be an artifact, a consequence of the withdrawal of foreign-born Hispanics from the labor force.
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Sharp Decline in Income for Non-Citizen Immigrant Households, 2006-2007
Incomes of non-citizen households--nearly half of which are led by undocumented immigrants--fell 7.3% from 2006 to 2007, in sharp contrast to an increase of 1.3% for all U.S. households. Household incomes of non-citizens who are Hispanic; from Latin America; recently arrived; male; less educated; and employed in construction, production or service occupations fell the most.
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Latino Labor Report, 2008: Construction Reverses Job Growth for Latinos
The latest economic slowdown has had a disproportionate impact on Latino workers. From an historic low in late 2006, the unemployment rate for Latinos rose sharply in 2007 and currently stands well above the rate for non-Latinos. Immigrant Hispanics, especially Mexican and recent arrivals, have been hurt the most by the slump in the construction industry. Weekly earnings for most groups of Hispanic workers also slipped backward last year. There are no signs Latino immigrants are leaving the U.S. labor market but they now play a smaller role in the growth of the Hispanic workforce than in recent years.
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1995-2005: Foreign-Born Latinos Make Progress on Wages
Foreign-born Latinos, especially the newly arrived, were much less likely to be low-wage earners in 2005 than in 1995. Yet despite progress into the middle of the wage distribution, many foreign-born Latinos remain low-wage earners. Over the same period, foreign-born Asians boosted their presence in the high-wage workforce.
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Construction Jobs Expand for Latinos Despite Slump in Housing Market
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Latino Labor Report 2006
The Hispanic unemployment rate reached a historic low in the second quarter of 2006. The gap between the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates for Latinos and non-Latinos was the smallest since 1973, when employment data on Latinos first became available. Wages for Latino workers also rose at a faster rate than for other workers in 2005-06. The healthy job market for Hispanic workers has been driven by the construction industry. But construction is showing signs of a slowdown that could impact Latino employment in the near future, especially for foreign-born workers.
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Growth in the Foreign-Born Workforce and Employment of the Native Born
Rapid increases in the foreign-born population at the state level are not associated with negative effects on the employment of native-born workers. An analysis of the relationship between growth in the foreign-born population and the employment outcomes of native-born workers revealed wide variations but no consistent pattern across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The size of the foreign-born workforce, its relative youth and low education level are also unrelated to the employment prospects for native workers. These findings emerge from the analysis of Census Bureau data for the boom years of the 1990s and the subsequent recession and slowdown.
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The Occupational Status and Mobility of Hispanics
A research report sponsored by the Pew Hispanic Center finds a worsening in the occupational status of Hispanics and a growing gap with respect to whites during the 1990s. That is surprising because the decade was witness to the longest economic expansion in recent U.S. history. But even as unemployment was on the decline for all racial and ethnic groups, structural shifts in employment across industries contributed to a greater division in the occupational status of Hispanics and whites. The occupations in which Hispanics are concentrated rank low in wages, educational requirements and other indicators of socioeconomic status.Read the research paper
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Survey of Mexican Migrants, Part Three
This study analyzes the employment experience of migrants before they left Mexico, their transition into the U.S. labor market, and their economic status in their new jobs. It uses the Pew Hispanic Center's Survey of Mexican Migrants, which interviewed 4,836 migrants, mostly believed to be undocumented, as they were applying for identity cards issued by Mexican consulates. The vast majority were gainfully employed before they left for the U.S. Failure to find work at home does not seem to be the primary reason that the estimated 6.3 million undocumented migrants from Mexico have come to the U.S.
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How come some of the people shown on the left don't look Hispanic?Hispanic or Latino is not a race. There are Latinos of many different races and physical characteristics. For more information see our FAQ article, Why doesn't the census include Hispanic as a race?, and the Latino Blog post Let's Stop Segmenting People by Race!