| Hispanics are gaining jobs at a faster rate
Hispanics are gaining jobs at a faster rate
PEW Hispanic
Two years after the U.S. labor market hit bottom, the economic recovery has yielded slow but steady gains in employment for all groups of workers. The gains, however, have varied across demographic groups, with Hispanics and Asians, in particular, experiencing a faster rate of growth in jobs than other groups. Their employment levels are higher now than just before the start of the Great Recession in December 2007, a milestone not yet reached by white and black workers.
Hispanics and Asians are the only groups to have experienced employment gains that exceeded the numbers of jobs lost in the recession. Hispanics lost 473,000 jobs in the recession but gained 1.3 million in the recovery; Asians lost 193,000 jobs in the recession and have gained 455,000 in the recovery. Whites recovered 1 million jobs during the recovery and blacks found 318,000 jobs. For these two groups, however, job losses were higher in the recession鈥攏early 6 million for whites and 1.1 million for blacks.
Unemployment
Unemployment rates have trended down more sharply in the recovery than employment rates have trended up. From the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2011, the unemployment rate for Hispanics fell from 12.6% to 11.2%; for whites, from 8.0% to 6.6%; for blacks, from 15.5% to 15.0%; and for Asians, from 7.8% to 7.1%. For all groups, however, unemployment rates remain substantially above their levels before the start of the recession in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Employment Change by Industry
Three industries added a sizable number of jobs for both Hispanics and non-Hispanics in the economic recovery. Professional business services, an industry that includes everything from management to landscaping services, added 170,000 jobs for Hispanics and 503,000 jobs for non-Hispanics from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2011. Wholesale and retail provided an additional 284,000 jobs to Hispanics and 314,000 jobs to non-Hispanics. Manufacturing, durable and non-durable, absorbed 112,000 more Hispanics and 945,000 more non-Hispanics. Among these three industries, only employment in professional business services is now higher than its pre-recession level.
For Hispanics, the leading source of jobs growth was the eating, drinking and lodging services sector. Their employment in hospitality jobs increased 326,000 from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2011. Notably, Hispanics also gained 101,000 jobs in construction.
Industries that shed jobs during the recovery for Hispanics include public administration (97,000), hospitals and other health services (88,000) and personal and private household services (64,000). For non-Hispanics, the leading sources of job losses in the recovery were construction (379,000), educational services (132,000) and finance, insurance and real estate services (105,000).
KENTUCKY: Immigrants in the Labor Market
Top Three Industries and Occupations??
The top three industries of immigrant workers in Kentucky were educational services, and health care and social assistance; arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services; and manufacturing.?
Of the foreign-born, civilian employed population age 16 and older (74,795) in Kentucky in 2009, 16.7 percent worked in educational services, and health care and social assistance, 15.4 percent in arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services, and 14.9 percent in manufacturing.
?The top three occupations of immigrant workers in Kentucky were management, professional, and related occupations; service occupations; and production, transportation, and material moving occupations.?
Of the foreign-born, civilian employed population age 16 and older (74,795) in Kentucky in 2009, 28.4 percent worked in management, professional, and related occupations, 21.8 percent in service occupations, and 15.9 percent in production, transportation, and material moving occupations.
Vol.12 #1
, | 
