Sometimes you take good news where you can.
So here’s your positive tidbit for the day: The nation’s poverty rate dropped significantly last year for the first time since 2006.
Yes, well, hip-hip hooray and all that.
The overall rate dipped from 15% to 14.5% (still pretty damn high).
That rate was pushed down primarily thanks to the efforts of Hispanics, who showed the most improvement. The rate for Latinos fell from 25.6% to 23.5%.
So instead of “over one-quarter of Hispanics live in poverty,” we can now say, “just under one-quarter of Hispanics live in poverty.”
Hey, I warned you that the good news was limited.
Among the reasons for the decline in Latinos’ poverty rate are the improved job market and the fact that more U.S.-born Latinos are entering the workforce. And remember that U.S.-born Latinos “tend to have more education [and] tend to be English-speaking,” which often leads to higher earnings.
Latinos were the only ethnic group to see a noticeable change in their poverty rate last year, but even with that, the percentage of destitute Hispanics is still substantially higher than it is for whites or Asians.
And while Latinos make up 17% of the American population, they constitute 28.1% of poor people.
Do you still feel like celebrating?
December 27th, 2015 on 4:05 pm
Interesting point here. I’ve heard the commentary that the salohcrs are quoting here and it makes sense from an academic standpoint. I have to chuckle on thinking back on this because being Latino (born in Mexico but raised in the US) and growing up on an Indian reservation in Arizona comprised of 4 different tribes- it was common to see Indios from Zacatecas, HIdalgo, Nayarit, etc. To the tribal members (US), they looked Indian, but were curious because they were Mexican, although they looked like them. In an area that was as mixed as this, there were a number of languages spoken, and lots of miscommunication as well as good communication. All of these people that I met said they were Indio de Mexico , after stating their tribal nationality. There are tribes in AZ that have inhabited the US and Mexico for centuries, their reservations and tribal governments are in AZ. Small detail in the big picture but an important one.I recommend watching El Norte, the 1983 movie directed by Gregory Nava. Great social and political tragedies and observations presented poignantly.