HispanicBusiness

This morning, the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization devoted to understanding the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicling its growing impact on the entire nation, released "Latino Labor Report, 2008: Construction Reverses Job Growth for Latinos." The study points to a slump in the construction industry as the primary driver behind the 6.5 percent unemployment rate for U.S. Hispanics, which compares to 4.7% for all non-Hispanics -- a gap that, only a short time ago at the end of 2006, had measured 0.5 percent.

Another important point made by the report: "Despite the disproportionate impact that the economic slowdown has had on immigrant Latino workers, there are no signs that they are leaving the U.S. labor market."

Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director for Research, Pew Hispanic Center, and the study's primary author, spoke