February 9, 2012 | 11:12 AM | By

Why Latino Unemployment is Dropping

Latinos constitute just 15 percent of the nation’s labor force, yet they’ve been hired for half of the new jobs the economy has added since 2010. The Los Angeles Times reports on why this demographic group is seeing its unemployment rate start to return to pre-recession levels.

 


Mining support services, where Latinos make up about a fifth of the workers, are expanding employment significantly. And, because Latinos account for a relatively small share of workers in the public sector, they aren’t bearing the brunt of deep cuts in government jobs.

There are other reasons, experts say, why Latinos are faring better than some other groups. For one thing, they might be more willing to take low-wage, temporary jobs. And they tend to be more mobile, willing to move from one county to another to get a job.

Some of the decline in Latino unemployment reflects the fact that many discouraged workers have stopped looking for jobs. Also, with jobs generally hard to find, fewer people are moving to the U.S. from Latin America, and more are returning home. The result is a smaller pool of workers who can more easily get employment.

Read more at: www.latimes.com