1Center or American Progress | The State o Latinos in the United States
The State of Latinos in the United States
Although This Growing Population Has Experienced MarkedSuccess, Barriers Remain
Vanessa Cárdenas and Sophia Kerby August 7, 2012
Our counry is rapidly changing. As we approach he year 2050, our naion will be increasingly more diverse, and Lainos will be one o he orces driving hisdemographic change. According o he 2010 U.S. Census Bureaupopulaion esimae, here are roughly 50.5 million Hispanics
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represening abou 16 percen o he U.S. populaion. By 2050, whendemographers ell us ha here will be no racial or ehnic majoriy among he general populaion o he Unied Saes, i is projecedha he Laino populaion will double o 30 percen.
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Consequenly,he role o Lainos in shaping our counry’s poliical and economicclimae is becoming more signican.Since Lainos are one o he ases-growing populaions in he coun-ry, i’s imperaive ha we address he challenges ha his communiy aces. I is well-documened ha communiies o color, includingLainos, ace signican dispariies in healh care, educaion, and eco-nomic indicaors. Tus, i’s crucial ha our local and naional leaderspu ino place policy soluions o address hese dispariies.Tis issue brie examines he sae o Lainos in he Unied Saes a largein regards o ve key areas: he workplace, educaional atainmen, healh, veerans aairs, and poliical leadership. Le’s examine each in urn.
Hispanic Americans: Who they are and where they live
Among Laino subgroups, Mexican Americans make up he largessubgroup a 63 percen and, a 38 percen, have he larges proporiono people under he age o 18. In 2010 he saes wih he larges Lainopopulaions were Caliornia (14 million), exas (9.5 million), Florida
FIGURE 1
Growing Latino presence
Latinos driving demographic changein the United States
Source: U.S. Census, available at http://www.census.gov/population/www/ projections/summarytables.html
CurrentHispanicpopulationProjected 2050Hispanicpopulation
15%30%Population growthYouth
Today, one in five children under the age of 18 is HispanicIn 2050, two in five children under the age of 18 will be Hispanic
2Center or American Progress | The State o Latinos in the United States
(4.2 million), New York (3.4 million), and Illinois (1.2 million). O paricular noe is heac ha he rapid growh in communiies o color, especially among Lainos, has creaeda signican racial-generaional gap in he Unied Saes. In 2010, 34.9 percen o Hispanics were under he age o 18, compared o 20.9 percen o non-Hispanic whies.
U.S. labor force at a glance
Te U.S. workorce is undoubedly becoming more diverse. According o he Bureauo Labor Saisics, as o June 2012 Lainos represened 16 percen o he U.S. labororce, a nearly 25 million workers.
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By 2018 i is projeced ha Lainos will make up18 percen o he workorce. O Lainos in he labor orce, 58 percen are men, and42 percen are women, which is slighly smaller han he percenage o women—46percen—who make up he whie labor orce. As Lainos coninueo ener he workorce in greaer numbers due o populaion growh,paricularly among young aduls, i’s imporan o noe he educaionlevel and he unemploymen raes among Laino workers.Employed Lainos are less likely o hold a college degree han eiher whies or Arican Americans, and are heavily concenraed in cer-ain indusries and secors. Only abou one in six employed Lainosabove he age o 25 holds a college degree,
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which is less han hal he porion o employed whies. A 83.7 percen, Lainos are signi-canly more likely o work in he privae secor han heir whie (78.5percen) and black (76.9 percen) counerpars. In conras, Lainosare ar less likely o have a governmen job, and he gap widens a hesenior execuive level in he public secor.
Unemployment
Unemploymen raes or Lainos vary depending on where hey live, heir educaionlevel, and wheher hey are oreign born or naive. Te unemploymen rae or Lainosaveraged 11.5 percen in 2011,
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compared o 7.9 percen or whies. Te Laino unem-ploymen numbers are ied in par o he ac ha Lainos are overrepresened in indus-ries such as consrucion and manuacuring, boh o which los he mos jobs duringhe recession, and ha hey are underrepresened in secors ha experienced job growhduring he recession—educaion and healh services.Unemploymen raes or Lainos vary depending on educaional atainmen. Across allracial groups, greaer educaional atainmen is correlaed o improved employmen ou-comes. Unemploymen coninues o be higher or hose wih ewer years o schooling.
05%10%15%20%25%2011 2020 205015%24%19%
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, available at http://www.dol.gov/_sec/ media/reports/hispaniclaborforce/ and Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor forceprojections, available at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2006/11/art3full.pdf
FIGURE 2
Changing face of U.S. labor force
Latinos will continue entering workforcein growing numbers
3Center or American Progress | The State o Latinos in the United States
In 2011 unemploymen or Lainos wih only a high school degree was 10.3 percen,
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compared o 8.4 percen o whies wih only a high school degree.Te Laino labor orce is also more likely o be oreign born han he res o he work-orce. In 2011 more han hal (52.2 percen) o he Laino labor orce was oreign born,compared o 15.9 percen o he overall labor orce. Hisorically, oreign-born Lainosexperience lower unemploymen raes han naive-born Lainos. Across ehnic groups wihin he Laino communiy, Puero Ricans have he highes unemploymen raes,and Cubans experience he lowes level o unemploymen.For Lainos, as is he case or all Americans, one’s place o residence also aecs employ-men raes. Saes wih he highes levels o unemploymen or Lainos in 2011 includeCaliornia, Arizona, Illinois, New York, Florida, and exas. I is no surprise ha saes wih larger Laino populaions have a larger number o unemployed Lainos. Wihinsaes, Lainos are more likely o move wihin a couny, indicaing hey are more likely o move or employmen opporuniies.
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During he Grea Recession employmen raes ellsharply—paricularly among Lainos. As men-ioned earlier, Laino workers los jobs primarily in consrucion, manuacuring, proessional and business services. Collecively, hese jobs accounedor nearly 1.1 million jobs los among Laino work-ers. Te Bureau o Labor Saisics projecs hahe consrucion indusry will grow by 2.9 percenannually hrough 2020.
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Tis growh should grealy bene Lainos, who are overrepresened in hisindusry; he majoriy o his growh, however, will be coming rom regained jobs ha were los duringhe recession. Te healh care and social assisanceindusry is projeced o grow he mos, wih anaddiional 5.6 million jobs projeced beween now and 2020. Unorunaely, Laino workers are signi-canly underrepresened in hese secors, making uponly 10.4 percen o workers in hese indusries.Conversely, one area holding grea economic promise or Lainos—and an area in which hey are prominen—is small-business ownership. According o he CensusBureau Survey o Business Owners,
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Laino-owned businesses were he ases-growingsmall-business segmen prior o he recession.Hispanics own 2.3 million businesses. Te srides in business ownership are paricularly apparen among Laino women. In ac, Laina enrepreneurs sar businesses in he
FIGURE 3
Latino labor force deployment
Professions and trades employing the majority of Latino workers
05%10%15%20%ConstructionRepair and maintenanceand personaland laundry servicesAdministration and support;and waste managementand remediation servicesHealth care andsocial assistanceTransportationand warehousing15.1%14.9%13.9%10.4%8.9%
Source: http://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/get07sof.html?11
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The State of Latinos in the United States
Vanessa Cárdenas and Sophia Kerby look at the successes and challenges of Latino Americans.
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