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By Ezra Klein, Washington Post

Something odd happens whenever immigration reform enters the news: Politicians and pundits who barely spare a word for low-wage workers in normal times suddenly become extremely concerned that immigrants might compete with low-wage laborers.

There’s a reason for that: The overall economic benefits of immigration are clearly positive. Immigration is good for the economy. So opponents of the bill are left picking over the distribution of those benefits.

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[Photo by World Relief Spokane]

By Alex Nowrasteh, The Blaze

A common conservative refrain is that immigrants, once they enter the U.S., “immediately begin to depend on government welfare,” as Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama recently put it.

That’s simply not true, according to a Cato Institute study by Professor Leighton Ku and lecturer Brian Bruen, both of George Washington University’s health policy department.

Ku and Bruen looked at social welfare programs ranging from Medicaid to the food stamp program to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Their findings:…

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[Photo by Viviana Paredes]

By Hispanically Speaking News

As April 15th approaches, everyone who has earned money this year is making sure they’ve given Uncle Sam his due. As a result, it’s that time of year for reflecting on matters of money — a particular concern for young adults, who have come-of-age during a recession and have been disproportionately affected by it. At an age when previous generations were establishing careers, starting families, and buying houses, today’s young adult is still await the expansive opportunities that were promised to them. For many – Hispanics in particular – those prospects have yet to appear.

When it comes to employment, Hispanic young adults have it rough. Hispanics 18 to 34 overall have an unemployment rate that’s 25% above that of non-Hispanic whites, according to a recent analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the think tank Demos. Research indicates, 1 out of 7 Hispanics ages 18 to 24 are looking for a job but can’t find one. The lack of job growth in the market is hitting the youngest adults especially hard: in 2012, labor force participation for total 18 to 24-year-olds fell to its lowest point in over four decades.

Combining findings from its 2012 research study “Hispanic 18-34s Living the ‘Next Normal’” with information from other sources, Tr3s has prepared some research on young Hispanic adults and their changing attitudes toward money.

Ostentatious wealth is “out.” For Boomers and Xers, brand names and high-priced products were status symbols. Tr3s found that young adults today don’t have that luxury. Money is tight, so overspending is not really an option. In addition, it’s a source of resentment — they connote frivolous spending, which they blame for our current economic problems, with poor judgment. This is true not just for young Hispanics, but young adults in general.

Money as a protective talisman is “in.” Because anything can happen, money in the bank is an insurance policy against tough times that might lie ahead, according to Tr3s research. For many, that savings account will also make it possible to move out of their parents’ house someday.

Hispanic young adults want to do better than their parents. Being financially better off than their parents is very important for 7 out of 10 Hispanic young adults, according to the 2012 Maximo Report. They’re almost twice as likely as white non-Hispanics to have this desire.

In spite of their difficulties, they’re optimistic about the future. The Maximo Report found that 6 in 10 Hispanic young adults feel the recession is getting better (a 116 index vs. white non-Hispanics). Tr3s also found that 61% of Hispanics 18 to 29 considers themselves to be very happy.

Source: Tr3s 2012 “Hispanic 18-34s Living The ‘Next Normal’”; Maximo Report 2012, NGLC, Motivo Insights, and Tr3s; Demos, “Stuck: Young America’s Persistent Jobs Crisis,” 4/4/13; The New York Times, “ Do Millennials Stand a Chance in the Real World?,” 3/26/13

This article was first published in Hispanically Speaking News.

[Photo by moodboardphotography]

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By Wade Goodwyn, NPR

Like almost everything in the Texas, the construction industry in the Lone Star State is big. One in every 13 workers here is employed in the state’s $54 billion-per-year construction industry.

Homebuilding and commercial construction may be an economic driver for the state, but it’s also an industry riddled with hazards. Years of illegal immigration have pushed wages down, and accidents and wage fraud are common. Of the nearly 1 million workers laboring in construction here, approximately half are undocumented.

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[Photo by Jason Cato/Workers Defense Project]

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By HACR

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – The Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), released findings from its 2012 Corporate Inclusion Index (CII) and, for the fourth year in a row, there was an increase in total participation, with 55 companies taking part in the survey.

The HACR CII, a component of HACR’s Corporate Accountability Strategy, takes a comprehensive measurement of Hispanic inclusion at Fortune 100 companies and HACR corporate member companies by focusing on HACR’s four pillars of corporate social responsibility and market reciprocity: Employment, Procurement, Philanthropy, and Governance.

“On behalf of HACR’s Board of Directors, congratulations to AT&T for their commitment to Hispanic inclusion, which is reflected in their 95 rating,” said HACR President & CEO Carlos F. Orta. “AT&T continues to lead the telecommunications industry, modeling the way for their industry and other corporations.”

A total of 126 corporations were invited to participate in the 2012 HACR CII survey; 55 companies submitted surveys and were rated for this year’s report. Of the companies rated, 38 were HACR corporate members and 17 were non-members.

Key highlights from the findings include:

• Findings indicate that fewer Hispanics are in the pipeline for upper level executive positions as reflected in the low-level representation of Hispanics in C-Suites (.03 percent) and other managerial positions (.68 percent) within the total reported employee base of participating companies.
• Of the participating companies, 15 percent reported less than one percent-spend with Hispanic suppliers.
• Average total charitable contributions made by participants in 2011 equaled $143, 652,247, while average contributions to Hispanic organizations amounted to only $1,524,485. Thirteen percent of participants reported less than one percent contributions to Hispanic organizations.
• Hispanics only held five percent of board seats among participating companies (29 out of 613 board members were Hispanic). A similar trend was observed with executive officer positions, only 90 out of 2,845 executive officer positions were held by Hispanics (three percent).

The complete 2012 HACR Corporate Inclusion Index report can be found on HACR’s website,www.hacr.org. Fortune 100 companies and HACR corporate members voluntarily submitted the data collected for HACR’s Corporate Inclusion Index survey.

You can also follow HACR on social media by following @HACRORG on Twitter, connecting onLinkedIn, viewing videos on YouTube, and becoming a fan on Facebook.

About the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility Founded in 1986, theHispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) is one of the most influential advocacy organizations in the nation representing 16 national Hispanic organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Our mission is to advance the inclusion of Hispanics in Corporate America at a level commensurate with our economic contributions. To that end, HACR focuses on four areas of corporate social responsibility and market reciprocity: Employment, Procurement, Philanthropy, and Governance.

[Photo by tripeak]

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By Anthony Orozco, Reading Eagle

It’s nearly become a cliche that immigrants journey to the United States in search of new opportunities and a better way of life.

But a recent Pew Research Center study gives credence to assumptions that America truly is a “land of opportunity.”

The data show that children of immigrants, particularly Latinos, are reaching markers of success in education, jobs, income and other areas that were mostly unattainable for their parents.

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[Photo by Bread for the World]

By B.D. Campbell, HispanicBusiness.com

Latinos continue to make gains in the jobs market, with a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate that dropped in March to 9.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The Latino unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in February, which in turn was down slightly from 9.7 percent in January. The rate for Latinos a year ago was 10.3 percent.

Overall unemployment for the country dipped to 7.6 percent and the number of unemployed hovered at 11.7 million, the BLS reported. The number of long-term unemployed remained essentially the same at 4.6 million.

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[Photo by bjmccray]

By Science Daily

Diversity training programs lead people to believe that work environments are fair even when given evidence of hiring, promotion or salary inequities, according to new findings by psychologists at the University of Washington and other universities.

The study also revealed that participants, all of whom were white, were less likely to take discrimination complaints seriously against companies who had diversity programs.

Workplace diversity programs are usually developed by human resource departments to foster a more inclusive environment for employees, but aren’t typically tested for their effectiveness. Nonetheless, their existence has been used in courtrooms as evidence that companies treat employees fairly.

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[Photo by USDAgov]

This article was suggested by Taquista Roberto Cavazos, Ph.D.

By Jason Llorenz, LIN@R

President Obama has much to be proud of in his four years as President, including managing us through the economic meltdown and strengthening the safety net for Americans still struggling to make ends meet.

But, as he embarks on his second term, seeking to secure his legacy, he might take a cue from a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing, which focused on modernizing our telecommunications networks and the way the government regulates them.

 In plain language, the discussion among lawmakers and the five FCC commissioners who testified came down to this: policymakers need to do everything possible to bring communications regulations and infrastructure into the 21st century.

More specifically, they must help expedite the transition to advanced communications infrastructure so that Americans enjoy the full benefits of broadband-based Internet service.

The transition, which involves changing from technology designed for old fashioned phone service to high-capacity IP networks designed to deliver voice, video and data, mean faster and more reliable service for more Americans.   Possibly aided by the kind of trials runs used in the switch to digital TV, updating networks for the 21st century should be a no-brainer.

Modernizing telecom is a natural goal for President Obama, who has vowed to deliver high-speed broadband service to 98 percent of Americans.   It also would have the happy consequence of creating quality jobs, an area where the administration is still struggling.

As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski summed it up in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed: “Few sectors have more job-creating innovation potential than broadband, particularly mobile broadband.”

Combined with a new push to expand broadband deployment and adoption, updated networks also will help deliver social justice by providing better access to jobs, educational opportunities and quality health care to people at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Committee members from both parties also pressed commissioners to expand the amount of spectrum available for wireless broadband by moving ahead with a spectrum auction targeted for 2014.  Sen. Thune (S.D.), for example, urged the commissioners to boost spectrum supplies “as quickly as possible.”

The growing popularity of wireless service is stretching the current spectrum inventory to the limit and threatens to create wireless traffic jams in which Internet connections drop, videos freeze, and phone calls can’t get through.

Boosting spectrum supplies is essential for keeping our wireless devices working.   A successful auction would provide spectrum to those who are ready to put it to work fast to meet consumer needs.

With just about every part of the economy now linked to the Internet, adding spectrum and modernizing our networks so that everything travels across its infrastructure should be an economic and opportunity bonanza.

Making sure that every American has access to broadband also means a wider distribution of the economic benefits of America’s technology sector.   If he can make those things happen, the President will have even more to be proud of.

This article was first published in LIN@R.

  Jason A. Llorenz, Esq. Is Senior Fellow, Latino Information Network (LIN@R), Rutgers University School of Communication and Information Studies; he is also Director of Innovation Policy for LIN@R. Follow him on Twitter @llorenzesq and follow LIN@R technology tweets@LINAR_technolog.

[Photo by  GSCSNJ]

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

The immigration reform debate is complicated and filled with nuance, case in point is the discussion over whether undocumented workers pay income tax and whether they should be made to do so as a requisite of legalizing their status.

Fox News Latino takes the issue up in a recent article. It outlines the issue in it’s most obvious complexity: many (if not most) undocumented do, in fact, pay income tax; they need a special ”Individual Tax Identification Number” to do so; but many are afraid that the number will be used against them; and they may need the number as an “original document” in the event that immigration reform is approved and they want to make their status legal.

It’s a huge catch-22 with misconceptions and fears thrown in.

It’s worth the read.

Click HERE or on the the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Insurance Quotes]

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

According to a Hispanic Business article, Latino home buyers are being caught between a dream and a real estate bubble – and that’s making it hard for the economy overall.

Here’s how it plays out: Latinos are poised to lead the country out of its real estate mire, and Latinos have a higher than average regard for home ownership. But, home prices are rising and housing inventory is shrinking. And the houses that are available for purchase are being picked up by investors who pay lower prices, cash, then turn those homes into rental properties.

The banks make quick money, clear bad assets from their books and go on their merry way.

It’s an uphill struggle for Latino home buyers who could very well lead the country through the recovery. The article has plenty of useful statistics and goes into detail about a  potential second housing bubble.

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By Jorge Rivas, Colorlines

On Tuesday the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) released a report that found the number of writer of color writing for television has doubled since the millennium.

The WGAW’s 2013 TV Staffing Brief examined employment patterns for 1,722 writers working on 190 broadcast and cable television shows during the 2011-12 season. The report found the number of writers of color has increased as a group but because the share of people of color continues to grow in the U.S. population little headway has been made toward reaching anything “approximating proportionate representation,” the report found.

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[Photo by a.saliga]

By Inman News

Latinos accounted for more than half of new owner-occupied households last year and have the purchasing power “to push the U.S. housing recovery into high gear,” according to an annual report from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) released today.

In its 2012 State of Hispanic Homeownership report, the trade group said Hispanics have posted gains in jobs, income, education, and household formation that make them ready to drive demand in the housing market, but that scarce for-sale inventory and policies that favor investor buyers are holding them back.

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[Photo by Mark Lafferty Alain Pinel Realtors]

By Alexander Abad-Santos, The Atlantic

Fans of conservative scientific outrage and the railing against senseless Obama administration-backed spending therein, have no fear: We’ve got the early word on a study recently funded by the National Institutes of Health that might just hit your sweet spot—if you want to ignore the actual facts, data, and reality behind it. Readying itself for the inevitable response that bedeviled previous NIH-funded research on obese lesbians (and obese straight men) and that infamous “shrimp on a treadmill” story (a.k.a. an irresponsible government spending fable or Senator Tom Coburn’s favorite stump speech) is this project from Anisha Indravadan Patel at the University of California, San Francisco, entitled  ”Increasing Water Intake In Lieu of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages among Latino Youth.” The study’s initial project information report reads:

This issue is of particular significance among Latino youth as they are more likely to drink SSBs and less likely to drink tap water than White and Asian children. To date, few interventions have focused on increasing water intake among children and there have been no interventions that have focused on increasing tap water intake among Latino children.

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[Photo by jdrephotography]