Latino Labor Report, 2003: Strong but Uneven Gains in Employment

A Pew Hispanic Center analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau shows that although the so-called “jobless recovery” seems to have turned around for Latinos overall, the gains were unevenly distributed across the Hispanic population.

Immigrant males, especially the most recently arrived, showed by far the greatest increase in employment, and the construction industry alone accounted for more than half of the total Latino job gains. Meanwhile, native-born Hispanics, particularly those of the fast-growing second
generation, did not do nearly as well.

Other indicators suggest that the unemployment rate for Latinos may have dropped in part because a large number of discouraged workers have given up trying to find jobs.