With the U.S. labor market continuing to improve, more people are participating in the nation’s economic recovery. For instance, the unemployment rate among Hispanics has declined by nearly a full percentage point so far in twenty sixteen, to five point four percent. This represents the lowest level of Hispanic unemployment since March two thousand and seven.
February’s Hispanic unemployment rate decline of zero point five percentage points represented the most rapid one month improvement since April twenty fourteen. As indicated by Bloomberg, the ratio of Hispanic unemployment to white unemployment has reached its lowest level in nine years. The recent pickup in Hispanic employment has been nothing short of dramatic.
According to the U.S. Labor Department’s household survey, which is distinct from the establishment survey, the nation produced five hundred and thirteen thousand net job additions in February. Of those, fully fifty seven percent, or about three hundred thousand, were attributable to gains among Hispanic communities.
In part, this is because many of the industries adding significant numbers of jobs, including retail, hospitality, and construction, tend to be associated with large numbers of Hispanic or Latino workers.
