ABSTRACT
Hispanics or Latinos, as they are variously called, are persons of Latin-American origin. Despite varying national origins, they are widely seen as a single group and have been much in the news lately.1 Due largely to record-breaking immigration, Hispanics have recently surpassed Blacks in sheer numbers, even though they trailed them by over 20 million persons just three decades ago. Indeed, in 2005, Hispanics came to comprise a full 14.5% of the total population, whereas Blacks2
only accounted for 11.9% of the population that year (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006a). Despite the record growth, Hispanics and their families have long been known
to experience substantial economic hardship in the United States. At the same time, their deprivation is often seen as comparatively moderate among minority groups. For instance, it is often implied, if things are so bad here for Hispanics, why do they come in such high numbers? In addition, Hispanics and their families have almost always registered less poverty and higher incomes than Blacks and their families, despite the latter group’s far greater seniority in this nation. With record-breaking Hispanic growth over the last several years, and with standard statistics on Hispanics continuing to indicate less deprivation than corresponding statistics for Blacks, the perspective that things for this group cannot be too bad is easy to sustain. Unfortunately, this perspective could not be more mistaken.
