Hispanic Unemployment Significantly Higher than National Rate

Jobless Rate for Latinos 16% Higher Than When Bush Took Office

Washington, D.C. -- Today the government reported that the Hispanic unemployment rate continued to be disproportionately higher than the national average. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for Hispanics was 6.7 percent, with 1.3 million Hispanic Americans looking for work – a 16 percent increase since President Bush took office. 

The national unemployment rate went up to 5.5 percent; the average length of unemployment is at a 20-year high and manufacturing employment remains at a 54-year low. Since President Bush took office, 1.3 million private-sector jobs have been lost – the first time the U.S. economy has lost jobs since the Great Depression in the 1930s.  Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector has lost 2.7 million jobs, which have been only partially offset by growth in service jobs.

“Republicans have clearly failed to improve our economy for middle class families,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said. “Instead, Republicans have fought to give irresponsible tax breaks to those who need them least, and they have used taxpayer money to create new incentives that ship those taxpayers’ jobs overseas.”

“We need a new commitment to creating good jobs,” Pelosi said. “We can begin by passing a robust highway and mass transit bill that would create nearly 2 million new jobs.  And we can reform the tax code to end incentives for outsourcing.  As a matter of basic fairness, no taxpayer should have to subsidize the outsourcing of his or her own job.”

Congressman José Serrano (D-NY) said: “Despite all of the hard work and the countless contributions that Hispanics do for this economy, Republicans continue to ignore the needs of our workers. While the very wealthy have received four reckless tax cuts under this Administration, 1.3 million Latinos are still looking for work. We need to approve legislation that gives American working families the tools they need to succeed.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an additional 1.3 million people fell out of the middle class and into poverty last year, with paychecks flat and household income down.  While annual average incomes remained flat, incomes for Hispanics dropped by 2.6 percent, the only group whose incomes fell last year.

House Democrats have always fought on behalf of Hispanic American working families. The Democrat’s Hispanic Agenda, Compromiso Demócrata con el Pueblo Latino embodies this commitment. The proposals put forth by House Democrats would create 10 million new jobs, would fully fund education programs so that all our children can reach their potential, including migrant and seasonal worker’s children. The Democratic commitment to Latino families is the same that produced 20 million new jobs during the 1990s and that has always defended the interests of the Hispanic community, especially during the last four years of insensitive neglect from Congressional Republicans and President Bush.