Latino jobs could follow housing slowdown
TEXT OF STORY
SCOTT JAGOW: A study due out this morning gives us a good look at the Latino workforce. It shows unemployment among Latinos hit a record low 5.2 percent in the second quarter of this year. Dan Grech reports.
DAN GRECH: The Pew Hispanic Center found that nearly half a million Latinos landed jobs in construction over the past two years.
The sector accounted for one of every two new jobs Latinos found during the study period. The study’s author says the housing slowdown could hit Hispanics particularly hard.
Economist Rakesh Kocchar:
RAKESH KOCCHAR:“The circle will come back in some sense to Hispanic workers, and their recent gains may be lost.”
With fewer construction jobs, what industries are Latinos likely to turn to next? Kocchar says teaching and health care.
KOCCHAR:“In education we’re seeing Hispanics at the lower rungs of the teaching jobs. In health services, it’s an industry in which they’re establishing a toehold.”
The study also found wages for Hispanics are on the rise, but are still lower than any other racial or ethnic group.
I’m Dan Grech for Marketplace.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
