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LABOUR-U.S.:
Hispanics See Job
Gains but Suffer Wage Setbacks
Abid Aslam
WASHINGTON, (IPS) - Hispanic
workers saw their employment
rate rise in 2004 but the growth
took place in low-skill,
low-income jobs that dragged
down their average wages, making
them the only U.S. ethnic group
to suffer a two-year decline in
wages, says a new report citing
official data.
Researchers said the findings
highlight not only growing
polarisation between them and
non-Hispanic U.S. workers, but
also fierce competition for jobs
among various migrant
populations.
Hispanic workers accounted for
more than one million of the 2.5
million new jobs created in the
U.S. economy last year, said the
non-governmental Pew Hispanic
Centre's analysis of the latest
data from the U.S. Census Bureau
and Bureau of Labour Statistics.
Workers from the
Spanish-speaking world now earn
five percent less than they did
two years ago. Recently arrived
Hispanic immigrants were a
leading source of new workers to
the economy but also among the
principal recipients of wage
cuts in 2004, the study said.
''Despite strong demand for
immigrant workers, their growing
supply and concentration in
certain occupations suggests
that the newest arrivals are
competing with each other in the
labour market to their own
detriment,'' said the report's
author, Rakesh Kochhar, a senior
research associate at the
Centre.
The vast majority of new jobs
for Hispanic workers were in
relatively low-skill occupations
calling for little other than a
high school education. In
contrast, non-Hispanic workers
secured large increases in
employment in higher-skill
occupations requiring at least
some college education.
''Hispanics and whites, the two
largest groups of workers in the
economy, are finding new jobs in
such different occupations that
they appear to be on separate
paths in the labour market,''
said Kochhar, a labour
economist.
This polarisation contributed to
the growing gap in earnings
between Hispanic and
non-Hispanic workers, the report
said. The fall in wages for
Latinos was greatest among
immigrants who arrived in the
United States in the past five
years.
''The new immigrants who are
enjoying significant growth in
employment are doing so at the
expense of lower wages. This
trend is, no doubt, exacerbated
by their concentration in
occupations calling for minimal
skills and education.''
Hispanic employment increased by
one million workers, or by six
percent, last year, the report
said. Allowing for immigration
and young workers completing
school and entering the job
force, this job growth cut the
number of unemployed Latinos by
48,000 workers.
Non-Hispanic employment
increased by 1.5 million, or by
1.2 percent, last year as the
ranks of unemployed
non-Hispanics decreased by
461,000.
The unemployment rate for
Hispanics has fallen by more
than two percentage points since
mid-2003 and is now closer to
the unemployment rate for
non-Hispanics than at any point
since 2000, the report said.
Eighty-one percent of new jobs
for foreign-born Latinos and 76
percent of new jobs for
U.S.-born Latinos were in
occupations requiring minimal
formal education. In contrast,
64 percent of new jobs for
U.S.-born white workers were in
occupations requiring a college
degree or more.
Hispanics' real weekly earnings
fell by 2.2 percent in 2003 and
another 2.6 percent in 2004.
Latinos are the only major group
of workers whose wages have
fallen for two consecutive
years, the report said.
Meanwhile, wages of non-Hispanic
white and black workers
increased in 2003 but declined
by 1.8 percent and 1.0 percent
respectively in 2004.
Asian workers are the only group
to have increased their earnings
each of the past two years.
Recently arrived Latino
immigrants saw their wages fall
by 2.6 percent in 2004. Recently
arrived non-Hispanic immigrants'
earnings fell by the same amount
in 2004, the report said.
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