Thread: Economy hits immigrants harder than most

Economy hits immigrants harder than most
Updated 10m ago
By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

DENVER — Low-skilled immigrants are taking a hard hit from the faltering economy, losing jobs, sending less money to families overseas and cutting back spending at businesses that cater to them.
The effect is most pronounced on immigrants, both legal and illegal, working in struggling sectors such as construction and manufacturing, says Rakesh Kochhar, associate director for research at the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research organization. The center estimates there are 11.9 million illegal immigrants in the USA this year.

"People with less skills or less education, and especially those who are in blue-collar jobs, are historically more vulnerable to downturns," he says. "The Hispanic immigrant is more likely to be less skilled, less educated and more blue collar" compared with the overall labor force.

In October, the jobless rate was 6.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the rate for Hispanics was 8.8%. Slightly more than half of the Hispanic labor force is foreign-born, Kochhar says.

At La Piñata Loca, a party supply store on Federal Boulevard here, business has dropped 45% since August, owner Xochitl Alvarez says.

Alvarez blames her falling profits on factors including the bad economy and immigrants' fears over stepped-up workplace raids by federal agents. Some of her customers have lost their jobs and others have voluntarily returned to their native countries because of the economy or tougher enforcement measures, she says.

"My Anglo customers are still here," says Alvarez, a U.S. citizen. "My Hispanic customers just don't want to spend the money."

• Day laborers may be among the most affected. At the WeCount! Community Worker Center in south Miami, 20 to 30 laborers come in each day to find work, but only one or two land jobs that pay about $10 per hour, director Selene Echeverria says.

• Remittances to some countries, which had been rising steadily, are down. Through September, Mexican immigrants sent $673 million less back home compared with the same period last year, a 3.7% drop, says Robert Meins, remittances specialist for the Inter-American Development Bank.

• Immigrants who make less spend less. Revenue at Hispanic-owned businesses was down 15% to 20% from July through September, compared with the same quarter last year, says David Lizárraga, chairman of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

In Denver, Alvarez is getting creative. She's cutting prices of some star-shapedpiñatas if customers purchase two and is offering layaway plans. "I'm trying to be flexible with the prices. I will even negotiate with customers," she says. "We're trying to see if we can make it."

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Do what? These undocumented immigrants finally feeling the pain that jobless United States Citizen have been experiencing.

Oh the humanity now illegal aliens without jobs will have to buy several IDs so they can get welfare, and food stamps under multiple names and stolen social security numbers.
All this just to keep up there standard of living (to make a better life).

Hurry Congress and bailout all the invaders who have liar loan mortgages. Money will be tight for them until their unearned tax credit
checks come in the mail, one for each name.

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These aren't immigrants they are talking about, they are illegal aliens.