|
Table 1. Social and economic characteristics of Hispanics,
by national origin |
|
(pooled
estimates from Current Population Survey, March 1998 and March 2000) |
|
% Foreign Born |
% Recent Arrivals** |
Years of Education |
Mean Earnings |
% Below Poverty Line |
% Unemployed |
% Public Assistance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| All
Hispanics |
38.5% |
44.8% |
10.7 |
$9,432 |
25.2% |
6.8% |
3.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Mexican/Chicano |
36.5% |
49.3% |
10.2 |
$8,525 |
26.3% |
7.0% |
2.6% |
| Puerto
Rican |
1.3% |
26.7% |
11.4 |
$9,893 |
30.4% |
8.3% |
7.3% |
| Cuban |
68.0% |
26.7% |
11.9 |
$13,567 |
18.3% |
5.8% |
2.2% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Dominican
Republic |
62.7% |
45.3% |
10.8 |
$7,883 |
36.0% |
8.6% |
8.2% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Central
America Total |
71.3% |
48.2% |
10.3 |
$9,865 |
22.3% |
6.4% |
2.4% |
| El Salvador* |
69.6% |
45.9% |
9.7 |
$9,631 |
20.8% |
5.1% |
2.4% |
| Guatemala* |
74.8% |
56.1% |
9.8 |
$9,204 |
27.1% |
7.9% |
1.8% |
| Honduras* |
69.0% |
50.2% |
10.4 |
$10,244 |
27.2% |
10.8% |
2.5% |
| Nicaragua* |
72.5% |
42.7% |
12 |
$10,506 |
17.4% |
4.0% |
1.9% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| South
America Total |
73.6% |
44.4% |
12.6 |
$13,911 |
13.6% |
4.3% |
0.8% |
| Colombia* |
71.7% |
38.4% |
12.4 |
$11,759 |
16.4% |
4.8% |
1.4% |
| Ecuador* |
71.1% |
48.9% |
11.8 |
$11,848 |
19.0% |
5.8% |
0.7% |
| Peru* |
73.0% |
51.5% |
12.7 |
$11,996 |
11.7% |
3.0% |
0.2% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| *Central and South American
groups are listed if they had more than 200 persons in the pooled CPS sample. |
| ** Recent arrivals represents the percentage of
immigrants who arrived in the previous ten years. |
Counting the New Latinos
The New Latinos are hard to count in Census 2000. Up to now a single “Hispanic
question” on the census has served reasonably well to distinguish Hispanics from
different national origins. In the last two decennial censuses people who identify as
Hispanic were asked to check one of three boxes (Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban), or to
write in another Hispanic category. In Census 2000, unlike in Census 1990, no examples of
other categories were provided to orient respondents. Probably for this reason an
unprecedented number of Hispanics in 2000 gave no information or only a vague
identification of themselves (such as “Hispanic” or “Spanish”). These
people, 6.2 million or 17.6% of all Hispanics, have been counted in
census reports as “Other Hispanics.” This is nearly double the share of Other
Hispanics in the 1990 census, and a very large portion of them is New Latinos.
|