The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), a Latino civil rights non-profit group, released a report on Monday that shows Latinos are more insecure about jobs even though there is “significant” job growth in sectors that employ high numbers of Hispanics.
Eric Rodríguez, NCLR Vice President of Research, Advocacy and Legislation, said in a statement that even though Latinos “are making important contributions to the industries that are helping drive our economic recovery,” they remain “in a precarious position when it comes to keeping their jobs and advancing in the labor market.”
Hispanics are highly represented in the service sector and according to Labor Department statistics this is the area that grew the most and contributed to most of the 192,000 new jobs in January and February. These include jobs in administrative services and waste management, nursing, residential care facilities for seniors and truck transport.
“Despite these positive signs, however, worrisome trends and public opinion call for policies to improve the employment prospects for vulnerable workers” the report says.
The report also points out that Latinos exited the workforce for the third straight month during February. Also, while there has been growth in this sector, Latinos have real concerns over the quality of the jobs and the survey showed that” a lack of well-paid jobs prompts many Latinos to give up looking for work altogether.”
The report also proposes that changes in policy be made in order to help alleviate the feelings of job insecurity among not only Latinos but the entire workforce.
“Policies to create jobs in hard-hit communities and effective enforcement of federal labor laws are among the ways to improve the quantity and quality of American jobs,” the report states. “Federal budget investments in workforce development programs can also bolster the economic security of Latinos and other vulnerable workers.”
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