Latino Employment in U.S. Up To Pre-Recession Levels

Half of net new jobs in the U.S. since 2010 went to Latinos.

Latinos are the first demographic group in the U.S. to return to pre-recession employment levels, helped along by the fact that they've made up fully 50 per cent of all net job gains since 2010. While unemployment among Latino Americans stands at 10.5 per cent – higher than the overall American rate of 8.3 per cent – it's well below the 13.1 per cent that it was at at its peak in November 2010. In 2011, Latinos made up 60 per cent of the 2.3 million net new jobs. There are a number of factors contributing to this rebound, according to the Los Angeles Times' Don Lee:

The construction industry remains weak, but other sectors in which Latinos have a relatively large share of jobs – hotels, food services, healthcare and manufacturing, for example – are seeing more robust job growth.

Mining support services, where Latinos make up about a fifth of the workers, are expanding employment significantly. And, because Latinos account for a relatively small share of workers in the public sector, they aren't bearing the brunt of deep cuts in government jobs.

There are other reasons, experts say, why Latinos are faring better than some other groups. For one thing, they might be more willing to take low-wage, temporary jobs. And they tend to be more mobile, willing to move from one county to another to get a job.

The uptick in Latino job numbers bodes well for Barack Obama's re-election hopes, as "jobs" remain the top priority among Hispanic voters. That same demographic turned out in droves for Obama in 2008, and decreasing unemployment levels among Latinos ought to help him once again this year.