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Report: Latinos Making Gains

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published September 27, 2006 at 12:47 PM PDT
This story was published more than 18 years ago.

A new Pew Hispanic Center report shows Latino workers in the United States have made important gains. Growth in construction jobs in western states including California contributed to Latino’s progre

Report: Latinos Making Gains

A new Pew Hispanic Center report shows Latino workers in the United States have made important gains. Growth in construction jobs in western states including California contributed to Latino’s progress. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

The study found the unemployment rate among Latinos dipped to a record low of 5.2 percent in the second quarter of 2006. Meanwhile, wages for Latino workers rose during the same period.

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The report found construction is driving the job market for Latinos. About half a million landed jobs in that industry last year. And construction accounts for two-thirds of all new jobs for Latinos since 2003. However, the report warns the construction sector is showing signs of a slowdown. And that could hit Latinos hard.

Latinos accounted for about 40-percent of all workers who entered the U.S. labor force last year. During that time, the unemployment rate for white workers decreased from 4.1 percent down to 3.9 percent. Amy Isackson, KPBS News.

Amy Isackson
Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.
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