Study challenges beliefs about Hispanics, jobs
COLUMBIA — Hispanic immigrants are not taking jobs away from native South Carolinians because they have different skills and job preferences, according to a state-sponsored study released Thursday.
"There's a myth that Hispanics drain our system," said Lee McElveen, Hispanic/Latino coordinator for the South Carolina Commission on Minority Affairs. "This report reveals something different."
Hispanics once worked primarily in agriculture in South Carolina but are now working more in construction. Animal slaughter and landscaping also have seen an increase in Hispanic employment, according to the report.
"For native black workers, just as for native white workers, one could conclude that a strong, growing economy in South Carolina could absorb new entrants from Latin America, and at the same time provide opportunities for the native work force," researchers wrote.
Hispanics earn $20,400 annually, not far below the average $21,199 salary of all full-time workers, according to the study.
Latinos make up about 3.3 percent of South Carolina's population. Males make up 56 percent of the Hispanic population and their average stay in the state is 4.8 years, according to the report.
The study looked at the impact Hispanics have on the state's work force and economy.
It was released Thursday during a statewide conference on Hispanic issues and was prepared by the University of South Carolina's Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies for the state Commission for Minority Affairs.
More than 500 Hispanics in 23 counties responded to the survey performed by university researchers.
"Unfortunately our census data does not reflect the actual people who are here," said Sandy Nieves, a Hispanic advisory member with the state Commission on Minority Affairs. "Many people don't sign up for the census because they are afraid of the government entity, whether they are here legally or illegally."
Researchers recommended that stronger efforts be made to encourage Latinos to participate in the 2010 U.S. Census so that more-accurate data can be obtained.
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Comments
poorboy (anonymous) says...
How can you put a number on what their actual earnings are when they get paid cash for these jobs. The majority don't work for a stick and mortar business. And I would disagree with this study that they are not taking jobs other SC citizens could do. You go in any construction site or small mfg'r type business and that's all that is there working. Small contractors too. They use them because they're cheap labor and they pay in cash so they're not reporting or paying payroll taxes, bottom line. You actually think the 100's standing under the no loitering sign at the "employment office" (bp station ashley phos rd) get paid any other way for DAY WORK! They would be incredibly stupid to take a check. Cash can't be traced....
August 31, 2007 at 5:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
Strange. This report correlates the increase of the illegal population with a large decrease in pay for the very positions these folks take. According to this very report, pay in construction, the dominant field for Hispanics, slipped an average 5 percent for all S.C. workers, white, black and hispanic, during what was a record housing boom. Hispanic construction wages fell by more than twice that. With construction booming wages should have increased, not decreased. Wonder why the P&C left that part of the report out.
Note that of our population of 4.3 million, 24% are under 18 and 12% are over 65. That leaves a working age population of 1.5 million. As far as illegals taking jobs from Americans, 3.3% of the population is around 140,000, almost 10% of the workforce aged population. 50% of those are males, so just the male portion is 5% of the workforce. Nothing here to say how many are illegal, or not in the workforce population, but we're talking about probably 100,000+ people who are not Americans, many of whom are here illegally and working under the table, doing South Carolina jobs at a time when we are reading about poverty and the unemployed in the papers. They not only take jobs, they depress wages.
August 31, 2007 at 8:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sheeple (anonymous) says...
"There's a myth that Hispanics drain our system,"
It's not a myth. This report only examines employment data, not crime/traffic deaths/gangs (the rate of DUI is much higher for Latinos than blacks or whites), social services, the drain on the education system (ESL classes, free lunch, chasing down families that move in the middle of the night...), emergency room care that never gets paid for...on and on and on.
They make a lot of cash under the table, but they're still taking more from the community in subsidies, depressed wages, and criminal behavior than they're contributing.
August 31, 2007 at 10:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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