President's Message, Winter/Spring 2004
by Luis Valenzuela, Ph.D., LMSW
I hope everyone had a great Christmas, a Happy New Year and a Feliz Dia De Reyes. I want to wish our members and our board good health and prosperity. This promises to be a very productive year for NAPRHSW. I am happy to report that the Executive Board has been meeting at Adelphi University’s new Hauppauge campus. Our first general membership meeting of 2004 will be held at Adelphi University’s Garden City campus on February 28th. The focus of the meeting will be on issues that impact the wellbeing of Latino immigrants and, by extension, all Latinos — what are the challenges and opportunities for Latinos.
Since we have a commitment to the betterment of the Latino community, it is important that we have a picture of the community. To this end, I want to present a brief statistical profile of the Latino population in the US. It is hoped that the demographic statistics begin to paint a picture of the Latino community that is helpful to all of our members. I also want to point to some issues as they relate to the well-being of the Latino community.
Statistical profile of Hispanics in the
United States: Accomplishments and challenges
According to data from the recent US Census 2002 Current Population Survey, there are 37.2 million Hispanics in the US, who comprise 13.2 % of the total population in the US. Latinos account for 2,997,676 of the 18,571,545 population of NYS. There are 2,433,630 Latinos living in NYC. There over 300,000 Latinos in Nassau and Suffolk counties (145,575 167,930, respectively).
Age
Age is a demographic characteristic that reflects an important strength of the
Hispanic population. The Hispanic population in the US is relatively young, for
example, 34.4% of Hispanics compared to 22.8% of European Americans were less
than 18 years old. Moreover, 60.0% of Hispanics were 18 to 64 years of age compared
to 62.9% of European Americans. Yet only 5.1% of Hispanics were over 65 years
of age compared to 14.4% of European Americans.
Household size
According to the data, 26.6% of family households in which an Hispanic was the householder consisted of five or more people. Only 10.8% of European Americans households were this large. Mexican households were most likely to have five or more people 30.8%. Families with only two people represented 25.9% of Hispanics family households compared to 48.7% of European American family households. Among Hispanic households, Cubans (43.1%) were most likely to have only two people.
Education
At least three (3) out five (5) Hispanics have a high school diploma. However, 57% of Hispanics age 25 and older have graduated from high school compared to 88.7% of the European Americans population of the same age grouping. Also, just under 75% of Hispanics had completed the 9th grade compared to 96% of European Americans. When looking at educational attainment beyond high school we see that 11.1% of Hispanics had at least a Bachelor's degree compared to 29.4% of European Americans.
Economic Characteristics
Hispanics 16 years of age and older are more likely than European Americans to be unemployed. For example, 8.1% of Hispanics in the labor force were unemployed compared to 5.1% of European Americans. Hispanics were more likely to be employed in the service occupations (22.1%) compared to European Americans (11.6%). Hispanics were almost twice as likely to be employed as laborers and operators than European Americans (20.8%, 10.9%, respectively). Hispanics (14.2%) were less likely to be employed in the managerial and professional occupations compared to European Americans (35.1%). In 2002, 26.3% Hispanics and 53.8% of European American year around full time workers earned $35,000 or more.
Hispanic children under 18 were more likely (28%) to be living in poverty compared to European American children under 18 (9.5%). It is important to highlight that Hispanic children make up 17.7% of all children in the US but represent 30.4% of all children living in poverty.
While the data clearly reflect that Latinos have made some gains since 2000, it is also clear that there are many challenges to overcome. At our Diversity and Strengths of the Latino Family conference (2003), I shared that despite the challenges faced by 1st generation Latinos, 2nd generation Latinos (i.e. those born in the US) are more susceptible to a variety of mental health problems. There is also evidence, in the area of health care, that 1st generation Latinos are more likely to enjoy good health compared to 2nd generation Latinos. Lastly, recent evidence reveals that 2nd generation Latinos are more vulnerable to the negative impact of economic downturns when compared not only to 1st generation Latinos but also as compared to 3rd generation Latinos. Pa’lante Venceremos!
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