Housing Slump Hits Hispanic Workers, But Most Immigrants Remain in U.S.

Carolyn Hileman - The Voice* | June 5, 2008

WASHINGTON — As the construction industry has slumped, the unemployment rate among Hispanic immigrants has climbed, an analysis released Wednesday shows. For the first time in five years, foreign-born Hispanics have a higher unemployment rate than do Hispanics born in the U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center’s analysis of census and Labor Department data. The unemployment rate for Hispanic immigrants was 7.5 percent during the first months of this year, compared with 6.9 percent among native-born Hispanics. During the same period in 2007, the rates were 5.5 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively. “The unemployment rate has shot up because of the slump in construction and Hispanic workers had done very well finding jobs in the construction industry as it was booming,” said Rakesh Kochhar, associate director for research. “Having become somewhat dependent on this industry, they were more vulnerable to the downturn.”

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