A recent Monthly Labor Review article reports that the Hispanic labor force in the United States more than doubled from 1990 to 2014, dwarfing the growth of the next fastest growing group, women. The 137 percent increase in Hispanic workers, from 10.7 million to 25.4 million workers between 1990 and 2014, surpasses the 29.0 percent growth of women and the 21.4 percent of men in the labor force, to say nothing of the 13 percent increase in the number of non-Hispanic civilian workers. Indeed, the representation of Hispanics among all civilian workers has nearly doubled, from 8.5 percent to 16 percent of the workforce, states a separate article by Marie Mora, professor of economics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“The growth rate of the number of Hispanic civilian women in the labor force was particularly acute (157 percent) compared with their male counterparts (124 percent) in the past quarter century,” states Mora. “The population growth rates of female and male civilian non-Hispanic workers rose by 18 percent and 9 percent, respectively, during this time.”

As a result, the share of Hispanic women among female workers doubled from 7.3 percent to 14.7 percent) and that of Hispanic men among male workers, from 9.5 percent to 17.7 percent, nearly doubled. Mora notes that the growth pattern was already observable almost 30 years ago, when a pattern from the 1980s was then observed. At that time, Hispanic workers had grown 44 percent to 7.7 million between 1980 and 1987, representing a fifth of the workforce growth in that period.

“One additional shift in just the past decade worth highlighting is that U.S.-born Hispanics have been driving population growth more than immigrants,” writes Mora, noting that by 2050, Hispanics will represent nearly 30 percent of the U.S. population. “If Hispanic women continue to disproportionately enter the workforce, gender-related differences in labor market outcomes (including earnings, self-employment, labor force participation, and occupations) as well as in family/societal factors (such as fertility rates, maternity/parental leave, and access to childcare, healthcare, and schools) will become increasingly important.”

The Food Action and Research Center reported last month that migrant and seasonal farmworkers tend to be young and have very high rates of food insecurity, especially among those who have children, according to a review in Social Work in Public Health. On average, migrant and seasonal farmworkers are 33 years old. Many have terminated their education by middle school, in part because the legal minimum age for farm work is 12 years compared to 16 years for other sectors of the workforce. The ten studies in the review article found varied rates of household food insecurity among both groups (migrant and seasonal) of workers even though all ten studies used the same USDA 18-question scale. In most studies, food insecurity rates were high and ranged from 50 to 65 percent; however, one study in the Southwest reported a much higher rate of 82 percent and one study in the Northeast found a much lower rate of 8 percent. Seasonal farmworkers tend to be relatively stationary while those who are migrant workers tend to move frequently, and have higher rates of food insecurity than their seasonal counterparts (55 percent versus 43 percent, respectively). Both rates are still dramatically higher than the national average.

Household level risk factors for food insecurity in this population included: lack of access to stoves and refrigerators for food preparation and storage; presence of children; and transportation challenges (reliability as well as distance to work, grocery stores, and assistance, such as food pantries). Individual risks included low maternal education and lack of documentation of legal status. (The latter makes workers vulnerable to abusive worksite practices. Workers on H-2A visas, for example, have certain rights, including the availability of food and food preparation facilities at the worksite.) Strategies to cope with food insecurity included adult reduction of food quantity or quality in order to feed children, seeking help from assistance programs (e.g., WIC, school meals, food pantries and SNAP), and eating wild foods hunted or gathered by the family or workers’ group. To improve food security for this population, the authors suggest that social workers advocate for immigration reform, increases in migrant and seasonal worker wages, inclusion in federal assistance programs, and improved access to healthy foods through alternative emergency food models, such as mobile distribution points.

Read the full report here…

Portia Y. Wu was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training in April 2014. She now leads the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) in its mission to address our nation’s workforce needs through high-quality training and employment programs. Working with States and territories, municipalities, labor management organizations, employers, educational institutions, fellow Federal agencies, and other partners, ETA strives to assist workers in gaining the skills and credentials needed to enter good jobs in promising industries that offer opportunities for advancement. ETA also addresses the needs of workers and businesses through the Unemployment Insurance program, which provides critical support to millions of Americans as they search for work, and through the Office of Foreign Labor Certification programs.

Wu has worked in the public, non-profit, and private sectors on a wide variety of labor issues and policies including job training, wage standards, work and family policy, immigration, pensions and retirement, and worker safety. Most recently, she served at the White House Domestic Policy Council as Special Assistant to the President for Labor and Workforce policy. From 2003 to 2010, Wu held several positions, including Labor Policy Director and General Counsel, advising Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.

Wu is a graduate of Yale Law School and Yale College and holds a Master’s Degree from Cornell University. She is originally from Albany, New York and she and her family live in Washington D.C.

http://www.doleta.gov/etainfo/Portia_Wu.cfm

The advocacy group Young Invincibles is reporting that the unemployment rate for young adults ages 18 to 34 fell from 7.5 percent in July to 7.0 percent in August (seasonally adjusted), while the national unemployment rate also improved, from 5.3 percent in July to 5.1 percent in August.

While it is encouraging to see this slight improvement for Millennials, racial disparities persist. Young black adults and young Hispanic adults saw little change and still disproportionately struggle to find work. The unemployment rate for each of these groups fell by only one-tenth of a percentage point. The unemployment rate for young black adults (not seasonally adjusted) fell from 13.9 percent in July to 13.8 percent in August, while the unemployment rate for young Hispanic adults (not seasonally adjusted) fell from 8.3 percent in July to 8.2 percent in August.

In comparison, the unemployment rate for young white adults (not seasonally adjusted) fell by nearly an entire percentage point, the greatest margin among all racial groups of young adults. The unemployment rate for young white adults fell from 6.6 percent in July to 5.7 percent in August.

Here are more details on how different populations of young people fared in August 2015:

• The unemployment rate for black/African American young adults ages 18 to 34 is 13.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted) in August, down from 13.9 percent in July.
• The unemployment rate for Hispanic/Latino young adults ages 18 to 34 is 8.2 percent (not seasonally adjusted) in August, down from 8.3 percent in July.
• The unemployment rate for Asian-Pacific Islander young adults ages 18 to 34 is 4.6 percent (not seasonally adjusted) in August, down from 5.2 percent in July.
• The unemployment rate for white young adults ages 18 to 34 is 5.7 percent (not seasonally adjusted) in August, down from 6.6 percent in July.

Read the full Young Invincibles article…

With summer ending and Congress back in session, lawmakers only have a handful of legislative days to avert a potential government shutdown. It’s unlikely that a shutdown will be allowed to happen, but it is possible. More likely, Congress and the president will agree on a series of short-term funding measures that maintain current spending levels and a continuing resolution (or “CR”) that could last through the end of President Obama‘s term in office. Republicans in Congress are divided, however, over how to defund Planned Parenthood after videos were made public apparently showing potentially criminal behavior. Some Republicans lawmakers want to force a showdown with the Democrats and the White House over this issue.

A grand budget compromise is highly unlikely, although pressure is mounting on all sides to break the Budget Control Act spending caps put in place a few years ago. According to Washington insiders, we can expect the status quo to prevail this year and next for the following four reasons:

• Congressional Republicans want to keep a lid on federal spending. Although congressional defense hawks, like Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona), are screaming about the damage the caps are doing to national defense, most Republicans are content to keep downward pressure on the discretionary budget. The caps, and the deficit reduction they generate, is probably Republican lawmakers’ most notable achievement. To change course now would be very risky for the entire Republican conference, whose base expects them to limit federal spending.

• Neither the president nor congressional leaders have the power to push through an agreement. Gone, seemingly, is the ability to keep their rank-and-file in line. This is occurring in both parties, but perhaps most openly in the House of Representatives, where certain Republican members are considering actions to force House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) from his role atop leadership. No matter who the leader is these days, the followers are not following. This is not the kind of atmosphere in which budget agreements are made.

• Greater federal spending might come at too great a political cost for the Obama Administration. Yes, Democrats want to increase federal spending, but legislation providing those funds would likely come with policy riders on issues such as Planned Parenthood, immigration, and the Environmental Protection Agency. President Obama may decide that he is unwilling to cut deals on these issues to get more dollars.

• Lastly, whether we like it or not, we are heading into what is known in Washington, D.C. as the silly season: a presidential election year. Presidential election politics are already affecting congressional debate and actions (or lack thereof). With media attention already fixed on the many candidates for the highest office, little focus is trained on the need to fund the government. Unfortunately, budget agreements usually do not happen in a vacuum, nor are they generally crafted without a spotlight on the budgeteers. In this election season, that sort of undivided attention does not appear to be very likely. Nor does any new budget agreement.

Still we hope. As this is being written, Congress has just eight business days to get something done. And that does not take into account the day-long recess in observance of Yom Kippur. Unless congressional leaders move decisively and soon, we could be looking at a repeat of the October 2013 shutdown. Let’s hope not.

On a Related Note: A Glimpse under The Capitol Dome

On the topic of impending budget battle, the entire 46-person-strong Senate Democratic caucus sent a letter earlier this summer to the Republican leadership asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R- Kentucky) to schedule “immediate” budget negotiations “to avoid a manufactured crisis in the fall.” From the letter: “There are less than two months left in the fiscal year, and we are deeply concerned by the fact that negotiations to craft a bipartisan budget agreement have not yet begun. With the end of the fiscal year looming, we urge you to immediately schedule bipartisan budget negotiations so that we can work together over the coming weeks to avoid another manufactured crisis…. We are ready and willing to work with you to produce a fair and balanced Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. Therefore, we respectfully request you schedule the first round of these important negotiations as soon as possible.”

In response, the majority leader’s spokesman blasted Democrats for holding spending bills up from floor consideration: “We wrote back to the staffers who sent the letter and got ‘out of office’ replies from both. But it’s important to note that Congress is already engaged in negotiations: Under new leadership, the Appropriations Committee for the first time in nine years passed all appropriations bills-most with Democrat support. But Democrats are refusing to allow a floor debate on the spending bills-going so far as to filibuster a pay raise for the troops.”