Op-ed Article on the Plight of Hispanic Workers
Below is an op-ed article I wrote on unemployment and Hispanic workers:
Closing the Unemployment Gap: Hispanic Workers Need Help
The Hispanic population in the United States has been growing substantially in recent years, providing businesses with burgeoning workforces - but Hispanic workers in America are in trouble. Their place as a mainstay in our labor force, provides American businesses with cost-effective means of production, but the current economic climate continues to threaten their status as able and effective workers. By 2015 the U.S. Census Bureau expects that 17% of the American population will be of Hispanic origin. This surge could offer greater opportunities for businesses, but as jobs openings continue to dwindle at unprecedented rates, Hispanics, who have been subject to the last hired and first fired phenomenon, have been left out in the cold. In this new economic era, how will Hispanic workers survive this unemployment crisis?
Many places across the United States have been profoundly affected by the arrival of Hispanic immigrants - most notably the South - where documented and undocumented workers took jobs in construction and factories. As these jobs continue to disappear, due to layoffs and failing business ventures, many Hispanic workers are left with few options for finding work, and it could end up devastating the South's economic landscape. The labor opportunities that immigrant workers provide are invaluable, and unless something is done to remedy the loss, future economic growth in this region may be profoundly hindered.
The unemployment crisis Hispanics are facing is nothing new. Historically, unemployment rates for Hispanics and whites show that the unemployment gap between Hispanics and whites is stubborn, large, persistent, and is not solely related to their documentation or legal status to work in the United States. Hispanic unemployment rates for the past 32 years, show a mean unemployment rate of 8.9% while the unemployment rate for whites is only 5.4%, and during this period the rates for Hispanics is always higher than for whites. Hispanic and white unemployment rates move up and down together, with higher rates corresponding to periods of economic downturns, like the one we're in now, and lower rates to periods of economic growth and prosperity. Evidence shows that Hispanics become unemployed sooner in economic downturns that whites, experience longer periods of unemployment, that is, leave the ranks of the employed at slower rates than whites, and generally face a "riskier" labor market than whites.
To close the unemployment gap, policy makers must pay more attention to the fact that it will likely take 30 years for the Hispanic unemployment rate to equal the white unemployment rate. The slow trend and high degree of persistence suggest that closing the gap will not necessarily occur by itself (i.e. by market forces), at least not any time soon.
Politicians will need to address the forces that are causing the unemployment among this group through policy actions. Measures such as focusing on job training in industries and occupations that are traditionally less sensitive to the business cycle (e.g. education, health care, government and public service, to name a few) would be a good place to start. Another opportunity for policy makers to close the gap, would be to focus on providing better educational opportunities for Hispanics as they are significantly underrepresented in managerial and professional occupations. Since unemployment can be subject to last in first out, educating Hispanics on the importance of job tenure could also help close the Hispanic - white unemployment gap sooner than the 30 years market forces will take.
Angel Reyes is an attorney, Hispanic immigration expert and author of Hispanic Heresy: What is the Impact of America's Largest Group of Immigrants (Mead Publishing, January 2009). He is the founder and managing partner of Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei, a law firm in Dallas, Texas.
©2009 Angel Reyes
www.ReyesLaw.com
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