Thread: Housing slump may hurt Latino jobs

http://www.northjersey.com

Housing slump may hurt Latino jobs
Thursday, September 28, 2006

By KEVIN G. DeMARRAIS
STAFF WRITER


The Hispanic unemployment rate reached a historic low in the second quarter, and wages for Latino workers rose for the first time in three years.

But recent gains could be short-lived as the construction industry -- the economic engine for those gains -- slows down, according to a report released Wednesday by the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.

The Hispanic unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent in the April-to-June period, closing the gap between unemployment rates for Latinos and non-Latinos to 0.6 percentage points. That is the smallest margin since employment data on Latinos first became available in 1973.

Wages rose for Latino workers between the second quarters of 2005 and 2006, and at a faster rate than for other workers, said Rakesh Kochhar, associate director for research at the Pew Center. In addition, the 867,000 Latinos added to the workforce accounted for 40 percent of all new workers in the United States.

"Those developments reflect significant improvement in the labor market for Latinos ... and indicate that the jobs recovery from the recession in 2001 is nearing completion for Hispanic workers," Kochhar said in a conference call.

The findings do not distinguish between documented and undocumented immigrants, he said.

"The principal source of the data is monthly surveys by the U.S. Census Bureau, and it is generally acknowledged that this survey captures both illegal and legal workers," he said.

About 40 percent of all Hispanic job gains -- nearly half a million jobs in the past year alone -- are in the construction industry. A 2004 Pew survey showed that nearly half the nation's drywall installers, plasterers and masons, and more than a third of the roofers, are Hispanic.

Kochhar said the focus on construction jobs is probably due to the fact that many of the Hispanic immigrants have worked in construction in their native countries. But Daniel Hara, president of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, disagreed.

"They're taking jobs others might not want to take," Hara said. "Companies are looking for these workers because they are really hardworking individuals who are willing to go a step forward for their employers. Go to the work site, you'll see that a majority of the workers are of Hispanic descent."

Hispanics gained 80,000 construction jobs in the Northeast over the past year, compared with 176,000 in the South, 115,000 in the West and 10,000 in the Midwest. On a percentage basis, however, the Northeast's 52 percent gain was biggest.

Unless the still-strong commercial building sector can absorb jobs lost to recent slowdowns in residential construction, however, Latino employment could be adversely affected, Kochhar said.

The Hispanic labor force continues to grow, primarily as a result of immigration, and the rate of growth in the Latino labor force exceeds that of any other group, he said.

Despite the job growth and the overall increase in wages, the median wages for foreign-born Latino workers decreased in the past year.

The median weekly pay for all Hispanics in the second quarter was $431, but those born in the United States were at $487 and foreign-born Latinos earned $389. By comparison, native-born whites had a median weekly salary of $623 and foreign-born whites were at $657.

E-mail: demarrais@northjersey.com

You can't believe any of the numbers put forth by this Pew Hispanic Center. They are the ones that have been claiming for the past 2 years there's only 8 to 11 million illegal aliens in the United States.



They are obviously funded by Globalists.

You cannot believe their numbers but....the housing market is cooling and what is going to happen when jobs dry up? All the illegals will be here wanting even more hand outs than they are already getting.

If there is no work for them then less many come over. The ones here will be forced to go back to work on the farms or go back home. At least the farmers maybe happy as they were loosing employees who would go do construction jobs for more money.

Or they may turn to crime

Originally Posted by jimpasz

Or they may turn to crime

Yep....that's why we need to encourage filing lawsuits for wrongful death against the employers and government entities responsible for their presence here in violation of US Immigration Laws.

Appropriate Redistribution of Income and Assets from Traitors To Damaged Citizens!

Good idea Judy. Let the law suits begin.

Originally Posted by jimpasz

Or they may turn to crime

They'll have to do something to make payments on their illegal home loans.

quote]"They're taking jobs others might not want to take," Hara said. "Companies are looking for these workers because they are really hardworking individuals who are willing to go a step forward for their employers. Go to the work site, you'll see that a majority of the workers are of Hispanic descent." [/quote]

Bull ! Companies are looking for these workers because they'll work cheaper than Americans. Period.

We already have enough new houses. More and more farmland and wooded areas are being developed every day! Enough already!

Let's slow the housing boom and maybe some of them will leave.

Ostrich