Latino employment falls over housing slump, illegal immigration raids

"Unemployment among Latinos -- particularly immigrants -- jumped in the last year, wiping out many of their economic gains, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center," says this report from Nicole Gaouette of The Times' Washington bureau.

The report comes amid an extended housing market and construction slump that has claimed hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S. The findings, which alarmed Latino leaders, also indicate that aggressive new enforcement raids by immigration officials may be a contributing factor to the rising rate of joblessness.

General unemployment rose to 5% in the first quarter of 2008 on a non-adjusted basis. But for Latinos, the rate reached 7.3%; for Latinos who are immigrants, 7.5%. For Mexican immigrants, the rate rose to 8.4%. Immigrants who came to the U.S. in 2000 or later were hardest hit, with 9.3%.

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City

Comments

[Becky Lewis]

DEPORT THEM AND THE JOBLESS RATE FOR LATINOS WILL GO DOWN!!!!!

USA Latinos: WIN. Higher employment. Higher wages.
Mexican Latinos: WIN. Can go home to family.
USA Non-Latinos: WIN, WIN, WIN. Less Crime. Less Trash. Less Gangs. Less Poverty. Less $ on Social programs. Less $ for Schooling of Anchor Babies.

[American Slumification]

Life it BETTER with the recession. There's been a HUGE reduction in overcrowding, trash, sexual assaults in my county. I am not kidding. Please keep these people out or at least in some numbers that we can control.

Some areas are still under a slum invasion. We picked up a friend off off Little River Turnpike on Saturday in Fairfax County, VA.....home of many illegals.

For 3 miles, there were 1000's of poor day laborers. They were under every tree, in every parking lot, in every storefront. Everywhere....for miles. Once we picked up her friend, I said...wow there's a lot of day laborers out.....her response was....

...."yup, it's low today because it's a Saturday"

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[Brittanicus]

Unless we get Democrats to endorse the Federal SAVE ACT (H.R.4088), illegal labor will continue to grow this side of the border. Without this new bill criminal aliens will remain able to apply their obnoxious trade. As an enforcement bill only, it will completely erase the attraction of jobs, because parasite employers caught will go to prison, confiscation of assets or heavily fined. Find all the unsuppressed answers at NUMBERSUSA. You too have the power to save America, from the illegal immigration invasion?

[Ed Weirdness]

Whine much? Obviously, since illegals have run American Citizens out of construction and food services (depressing wages universally), when an economic downturn stalls or causes these businesses to "pull back", illegals would be disporportionately exposed to this cyclical "downsizing". Legal aliens are no more affected than are native born citizens. I would point out that unemployment in Mexico (to cite an easy example) is only 3.8% compared to the United States which hover stubbornly at or near 5.0% of a much larger population. Were it not for the tax payer funded perks (education, health care, social services) and getting paid in a manner that avoids the tax collector, many illegals might be better served to remain in their native country. The fact that even though unemployment is high and climbing, these illegals refuse to return to their native country, demonstrates why its necessary to eliminate the jobs and benefits magnet that draws illegals to our nation.

[Bettybb]

The people who are here illegally,,, ripping off our systems, ... stealing American's ids. using forged documetns and mutliple identites.. should be jailed.. then deported.