Study: Latino unemployment higher than nat’l average

The unemployment rate for Latinos has increased higher than the national average during the same period according to a Pew Hispanic Center (PHC) study.

Using an analysis of the latest Census Bureau data, the PHC concluded that unemployment among foreign-born Latinos went up from 5.1% to 8.0% from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008. Meanwhile, the general unemployment rate during this same time period increased from 4.6% to 6.6%.

Though native-born Latinos and African-Americans suffer higher overall rates of unemployment, the study found that more foreign-born Latinos have lost their jobs than any other group.

The report refrains from examining how the economic slowdown may be affecting migration to and from the U.S. Yet the PHC study acknowledged that the negative affects of the U.S. recession are affecting everyone while pointing out that “the construction sector remains the leading source of job loss for both Hispanics and non-Hispanics.”

The study comes as no surprise to Latinos hit hard by the recession:

"There is no work," said Mexican immigrant William Ake, 38, who in the past year has traveled as far as Manteca and Oregon seeking jobs. "If it does not improve by July, I will return to my home in Yucatan." Prospects were no better there, he said, but it is where his family lives…

Alma Luja, manager of a Monument branch of Sigue Corp., a place to send international money transfers, said remittances back to Mexico and Central America are way down. In November, about 50 people came in every day and now just about 20, she said, speaking Thursday morning in an empty store…

"There have been people coming in here with $20 bills just to help feed their family," she said. "Before, the minimum was $100 or $150."

Image- Modesto Bee
Online Sources- Reuters, Pew Research Center, OCRegister.com, ContraCostaTimes.com, Dallas Morning News