Hispanics hit hardest by sluggish economy
David Peregrino El Paso Times
Hispanics will have a tougher time than others recovering from the nation's recession and may not see their employment or incomes recover until 2004, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released Thursday.
Researchers found that Hispanics take longer to recover from a depressed economy because of limited English skills, education and job experience. Hispanics are also concentrated in manufacturing and retail jobs -- those hardest hit by this recession.
"The forecasts of a long, slow recovery are especially troubling for a population that includes many millions of young people and recent immigrants still establishing their place in the U.S. labor market," said the center's director, Roberto Suro, in releasing the report, "New Lows from New Highs."
Within the diverse Hispanic population, those with roots in Mexico, who make up 58 percent of all U.S. Hispanics, are suffering the worst. Unemployment among that sector is 7.9 percent, compared with 7.3 percent for other Hispanics.
The report's findings don't bode well for El Paso, where the population is nearly 80 percent Hispanic.
Recently VF Jeanswear, which operates three factories in El Paso County, announced it was laying off 1,238 employees.
Juan Dominguez, a 48-year-old father of two, said he has been looking for work since he was laid off in October from his clothing manufacturing job at Correa Cutting in Central El Paso.
"I've been submitting a lot of applications at clothing factories. They always say they'll give me a call, but they never do," he said. "I see a lot of my friends going through the same things."
The study -- the first from the newly created Washington-based research group -- also found that Hispanics have limited savings, making surviving a slumping economy difficult. Federal data show that half the nation's Hispanic families had $1,800 or less in stock, retirement, savings or checking accounts. The average for all U.S. families was $19,820.
Dominguez said he never saved money, just lived paycheck to paycheck.