April 26, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment gains among Hispanic population in 2004

Among the major racial and ethnic groups, Hispanics experienced the sharpest increases in labor force size and employment level in 2004.

[Chart data—TXT]

Although Hispanics made up about 13 percent of total employment at the end of 2003, the increase in their employment in 2004 accounted for nearly half of the over-the-year gain in total employment.

The employment gain among Hispanics (who can be of any race) elevated the group’s labor force participation rate and employment-to-population ratio.

Labor force participation among Hispanics last peaked in the first quarter of 2001, at 70.1 percent. The rate then trended downward to 67.9 percent by the fourth quarter of 2003 and was 68.5 percent by the fourth quarter of 2004. 

The employment-to-population ratio for Hispanics increased by 0.9 percent percentage point from the fourth quarter of 2003 to the fourth quarter of 2004, to 63.9 percent.

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. Find more in "Household survey indicators show some improvement in 2004," by Teresa L. Morisi, Monthly Labor Review, March 2005.  

 

Related TED article:

• Decline in lengthy periods of unemployment in 2004