Latino employment falls over housing slump, illegal immigration raids
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‘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
