According to a report released by the Pew Hispanic Center, employment is back up to levels seen prior to the recession among Latinos and Asians (but not among whites and blacks). The number of Latino workers reached 20.7 million in the last quarter of 2011, compared to 19.5 million in the last quarter of 2007. The report also found that the immigrant community–which is mostly Hispanic or Asian–is experiencing a faster rate of growth in employment than that of native-born workers.
While it would be great for all communities across the board to be back on track regarding job recovery, I must say I'm very happy to hear news like this because we all know that Latinos were one of the hardest hit during the recession. ¡Qué bueno!
The majority of the job gains for Latinos came from the hospitality sector, including restaurants and hotels. But construction, professional business services, wholesale and retail trade, and manufacturing industries were also responsible.
The main reason for the difference in job recovery between Latinos and Asians and whites and blacks has to do with the huge growth within the immigrant population. In other words, while the population of working-age (16 and older) Latinos grew by 10.9 percent, the population of white workers only increased by 1.3 percent.
Sadly, however, when the statistics are broken down by gender, the same hasn't been true for women. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, men have gained more jobs than women since 2009. The reasons why remain unclear, although the report suggests that cutbacks by federal, state and local governments could have something to do with this.
What do you think of this report? Does it reflect what's going on in your family?
