The Demographics of the Jobs Recovery: Employment Gains by Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Nativity
This report analyzes labor market trends in the economic recovery from 2009 to 2011. The focus is on the change in employment by race, ethnicity, gender and nativity. The report finds that, two years after the U.S. labor market hit bottom, the economic recovery has yielded slow but steady gains in employment for all groups of workers. The gains, however, have varied across demographic groups, with Hispanics and Asians, in particular, experiencing a faster rate of growth in jobs than other groups.
Although jobs growth for Hispanics and Asians was more rapid than for other groups, it merely kept pace with the growth in their working-age (ages 16 and older) populations. The slower rate of jobs growth for whites and blacks reflects the relatively slow growth in their populations.
The story is the same when one looks at the jobs recovery for immigrants and native-born workers. Immigrants, the majority of whom are Hispanic or Asian, are experiencing a faster rate of growth in employment than are native-born workers. This difference is also roughly in line with the difference in the growth in their working-age populations during the recovery.
Kochhar, R. (2012). The Demographics of the Jobs Recovery: Employment Gains by Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Nativity. Pew Hispanic Center: Washington, D.C.