Last week, we were presented with a number of American Indian social concerns, including terrifyingly high suicide, alcoholism, TB, and Diabetes rates, among others. Now that we are reading Urrea, I took a quick peek into Mexican-American social concerns. In 2009, the median age of Hispanics in the U.S. was 27.4, as compared to 36.8 for the general population ("Hispanic"). This is indicative of shorter life spans among all Americans of Hispanic descent. In addition, the average income for Hispanics in 2008 was $37,913, down from previous years, the poverty rate was 23.2%, and about a third of Hispanics did not have health insurance ("Hispanic"). These numbers have continued to dwindle (and in the case of the poverty rate, skyrocket) due to the recession.
Perhaps one of the biggest social concerns for Hispanic Americans, though, is education and career options. In 2009, a mere 13% of the Hispanic population had a Bachelor's degree or higher; only 12% or full-time college students were Hispanic in 2008 ("Hispanic"). And, although there were about 48.4 million Hispanics in America by July of 2009 and 69% were in the workforce, only 18% worked in management or professional occupations ("Hispanic"). Most work in service occupations, followed by sales, construction, and farming. 1.1 million are veterans from the armed forces ("Hispanic").
"Hispanic Americans By the Numbers." Infoplease.com. U.S. Census Bureau, 2009. Web. 3 Mar. 2011.
Mikayla,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. When you write these kinds of posts, try to relate it to the reading, too. Otherwise this'll read like an unrelated factoid.