So if documented workers can't find jobs just where is the labor shortage????

Melissa Duran, Reporter
Hispanic Community Takes Hard Hit in Slowing Economy

Updated: May 15, 2008 07:31 PM PDT








"We'll stay out here until five or six at night," said Maximino Perez.



Helena Garcia is with Latinos In Action.





More Las Vegas residents are losing their jobs as the economy weakens. The Hispanic community has taken a huge hit -- unemployment insurance claims have gone up more than 50-percent in the last year.

Competition is getting tough outside home improvement stores, nurseries and convenience stores throughout the valley.

"Yes, yes. There are a lot more groups that are looking for work, but there is no work," said Pedro Cedilla. He used to hold a construction job laying concrete but recently lost it. It's the same story you'll hear from many of the men there.

"We don't have work. Sometimes we don't have work for several days, and we'll stay out here until five or six at night," said Maximino Perez.

But the slow economy isn't just hurting undocumented workers, it's being felt by documented Hispanic workers as well. The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation saw a 67-percent increase in Hispanics applying for unemployment in the last year.

Helena Garcia is with Latinos In Action -- an Hispanic advocacy organization. She says the slowdown in the Las Vegas housing market is largely to blame.

"Mainly construction, because of our housing market right now I see the majority in construction are losing their jobs but that has a ripple effect. It's having a tremendous affect on all kinds of businesses," said Garcia.

Garcia says the bad economy and new immigration laws combined are causing more Hispanics to lose their jobs -- but ultimately their loss is also yours.

"All of these people that have been working, sometimes making $30-$40 an hour -- they are providing a lot for the economy," said Garcia.

For now, workers say hope is the only thing that gets them through. The lack of jobs for Hispanics here in the U.S. isn't just hurting our economy. The high Hispanic unemployment rate has decreased the number of Hispanics wiring money to family members in their native countries, also increasing the risk of poverty in those areas.

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