THELMA GUERRERO
Statesman Journal
March 11, 2007
Hispanics make up 13.6 percent of the U.S. employment population but accounted for 36.7 percent of the 2006 U.S. job growth, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
The construction industry was a key source of jobs for Hispanics, despite a slump in the housing market. Hispanic workers landed two out of three new construction jobs in 2006, Pew analysts said.
Most of those jobs were in the West and South, which is consistent with the overall distribution of the Hispanic work force, according to the Pew fact sheet.
"That puts Oregon in a category that's above the national average of new jobs being landed by Hispanics," said Art Ayre, an economist with the Oregon Employment Department.
In Oregon, Hispanics increased their grip in construction occupations from 12.5 percent in 2002 to 14 percent in 2005, officials at the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that in recent years about two-thirds of the rise in the employment of recently arrived Hispanics was due to authorized migration.
The median weekly earnings of Hispanic workers increased from $420 to $428 between 2005 and 2006, the fact sheet found. The median weekly earnings of foreign-born Hispanic workers fell from $400 to $388 in 2006.
tguerrero@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6815
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2 comments:
Hi
yesterday I was watching a tv show from a Mexican channel here in Las Cruces, and one of the comments that kept my attention was that construction employers said they hired Hispanis because they usually do correctly their job, on time and because they are punctual and responsable people.
Maybe, that is one of the reason why Hispanics can find a job in the US.
Angelica
Angelica, As we saw in this last chapter many immigrant workers not only provide needed labor but most work extremely hard doing so. In my personal experience there has been a decline in the "work ehtics" of many Americans. Many of our fellow citizens refuse to work at jobs they consider demeaning. One attitude that seems all too prevalent is why work for minimum wage if you can collect a welfare check.I know that there are many of us who also work extremely hard to support our families but the bottom line is of course money. If an employer can hire someone for considerably less and they can do the job just as well than often they will hire the cheaper employee. Sad but true. Thank you for your post. Sincerely, Mark.
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