October 31, 2008 | EPI Briefing Paper #225

Hispanics and the economy
Economic stagnation for Hispanic American workers, throughout the 2000s

by Algernon Austin and Marie T. Mora

Press release [PDF]

Between 2000 and 2007, the U.S. gross domestic product grew by 18% and worker productivity by 19%. Yet despite these gains, the Hispanic population did not benefit from the wealth that it helped create in the U.S. economy in this period. This EPI Briefing Paper examines the data that show how this group experienced a loss of median income and an increase in the poverty and unemployment rates. The Hispanic population began the 2000s business cycle significantly worse off economically than the nation as a whole, and they are ending the cycle in virtually the same place. For many Hispanics the current economic downturn will mean they will fall further behind the nation as a whole.

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