Latino unemployment rate at historic low

National Institute for Latino Policy - The unemployment rate for Hispanics in the U.S. has returned to a historic low last seen more than a decade ago, though other labor market measures show this group has not totally recovered from the Great Recession, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data.

 

The Hispanic unemployment rate stood at 4.7% in the second quarter of 2017, about the same as in the second quarter of 2006 (4.9%). The improving labor market prospects for Latinos mirror trends for U.S. workers overall. The national unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2017 was 4.2%, compared with 4.6% in the second quarter of 2006. (Estimates are non-seasonally adjusted, but seasonally adjusted data show the same trend.)

 

This improvement extends to Hispanic women and men, as well as U.S.-born and foreign-born Hispanics. All four groups now have unemployment rates that are at or below their pre-recession levels.

 

Hispanics born in the U.S. have made the most progress on this measure, with the group's unemployment rate dropping to below its pre-recession level - 5.6% in the second quarter of 2017, compared with 6.2% in 2006. By comparison, foreign-born Hispanics' unemployment rate in 2017 (3.8%) had only returned to its pre-recession level.

 

Hispanics make up 17% of the U.S. labor force in 2017, up from 13.5% in 2006. Much of this growth comes from U.S.-born Hispanics, who make up 52.5% of the Hispanic labor force in 2017, compared with 44.1% in 2006.

 

Despite the declining Latino unemployment rate, two other measures of labor market activity - labor force participation and the employment-population ratio - reveal that Latinos in the U.S. have not totally recovered from the Great Recession. This, too, reflects the experience of American workers overall.