http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 993431.htm

Posted on Wed, Mar. 01, 2006

Study details challenges for Hispanics, implications for labor force

BY MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON - The destiny of the country's 40 million Hispanics remains "highly uncertain," complicated by language barriers and low participation in high-skilled jobs, education and health care coverage, according to a new study.

The future economic strength of a graying nation is intertwined with the well-being of a rapidly expanding, younger Hispanic population that will represent an ever larger share of the U.S. work force as baby boomers retire, the National Research Council said in a two-year study issued Wednesday.

The council, an arm of the National Academies of Science, identified a series of challenges confronting Hispanics: overrepresentation in low-wage industries; insufficient English proficiency; illegal immigration status that results in lower pay; and health challenges among them.

But the study's researchers identified education as the biggest hurdle, noting that Hispanics have higher school dropout rates, lower college enrollment and less job training than the overall population in an economy ever more reliant on higher-skilled jobs.

"What is certain is that the current educational profile of Hispanics will undermine their long-term economic, social and physical well-being and diminish their prospects for social integration and civic engagement," the report concluded.

"Given the projected growth of the Hispanic population over the next quarter-century, compromising the future economic prospects of Hispanics by underinvesting in their education will likely compromise the nation's future as well."

While steering clear of specific prescriptions, the study's authors suggested that policymakers invest in education - for the betterment of Hispanics and U.S. society as a whole.

"That education problem - that is a big problem," said Stephen Trejo, a University of Texas at Austin economics professor who participated in the study. "If we could somehow get rid of that education gap, that would go a long way toward fixing the labor market problem."

In 2000, the average two-year educational gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites cost about $100 billion in lost earnings, the report found. Projections suggest that figure could soar to $212 billion in current dollars by 2030.

Joseph Pena, a Dallas-area businessman who serves as a trustee on the Hispanic Council for Reform and Education Options, said the report offers the latest evidence that dropping out of high school has a lifelong impact.

"Our purpose is to educate the families in the importance of education to their children," said Pema, a former Small Business Administration regional manager. "A lot of them want to start working as soon as they can, even to the point of dropping out of school, which is a sacrifice they can never make up for."

While Washington is in a tight budget environment and currently is focused on ways to reduce illegal immigration, Pena said, he is optimistic that a case can be made to fund programs providing educational outreach for Hispanics.

"I think the timing is perfect," he said. "All the issues are coming to a head, politically, socially and economically."

The 160-page study, Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies: Hispanics and the American Future, offers a snapshot of a nation profoundly changed by immigration and higher Hispanic birthrates.

In 2000, 1 of every 7 U.S. residents was Hispanic - a figure expected to rise to 1 in 4 by 2030 if current demographic trends continue. The Hispanic population, growing by 1.5 million annually, is also significantly younger, with a median age of 27 compared with 39 for non-Hispanic whites in 2000.

The United States is home to more people of Latin descent than Spain, Colombia or any other any Spanish-speaking country except Mexico, the study found.

Almost half of Hispanics in the United States were born in another country, with 40 percent of the foreign-born here illegally.

A key challenge for the U.S.: Only a third of foreign-born working-age Hispanics are fluent in English. That, in turn, holds implications for the workers' ability to get good-paying, higher-skilled jobs.

While many U.S.-born Hispanics are gradually ascending to the middle class, the study found that Hispanics as a group are losing economic ground relative to non-Hispanic whites because of a large pool of low-skilled workers, many of whom are illegal immigrants.

Also, as the U.S. economy has moved since the 1970s to higher-skilled jobs, Hispanics have failed to keep pace with the shift, the researchers found.

"Lower levels of schooling, English proficiency, and work experience remain a serious impediment to Hispanics' labor market success and, consequently, their ascent to the middle class," the study found.