Blacks and Latinos

[Steeltrap]

I found this interesting, particularly when it comes to the willingness of Latinos to take lower wage jobs.

HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE RACIAL UNEMPLOYMENT GAP

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that for the year 2003 the average unemployment rate for all workers was 5.7 percent. The black unemployment rate was 10.8 percent. For Hispanics, the overall unemployment rate was 7.7 percent.

Hispanics have a lower unemployment rate than blacks despite having lower educational credentials. Only 57 percent of all Hispanic adults have completed high school compared to about 80 percent of adult blacks and nearly 90 percent of adult whites. Approximately 11 percent of all adult Hispanics have a four-year college degree compared to 17 percent of blacks and 28 percent of whites.

Despite their lower level of education, Hispanics have escaped higher unemployment apparently because so many of them are willing to take positions as laborers and low-level service workers. Five percent of all Hispanic workers are employed as farm laborers. Many other Hispanics are employed as household workers, car washers, custodians, and retail service workers. There is high demand for these types of jobs. In contrast, high-paying factory work and low-level white collar jobs, where many black workers have been concentrated, are the positions that are being shipped overseas or being replaced by technology. Only 15 percent of Hispanics work in managerial or professional positions, compared to 23 percent of the African-American work force.