Posts Tagged: Latinos
Latinos are America's economic salvation
At almost 58 million and growing, Hispanics make up the largest minority group in the United States.
When it comes to the economic power of this group, consider these figures:
Latinos who live and work in the U.S. were responsible for $2.13 trillion of gross domestic product in 2015, almost 12 percent of the country's $18.04 trillion GDP. And the projections for 2020 are even higher: Latino GDP will account for almost 25 percent of the nation's economic growth, according to David E. Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Hayes-Bautista, who spoke at the State of Hispanic Businesses Forum, hosted by Wells Fargo and the four largest Hispanic chambers of commerce in North Texas, said if the Latino GDP were representative of an independent country, it would be the world's seventh largest. It would be topped only by U.S., China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and France, and it would be bigger than the GDP of India, Italia, Brazil, Canada or Russia.
In an interview, Hayes-Bautista explained his methodology and his projections.
Explain the concept of Latino GDP and how you came to that number.
For decades, I've researched the Latino contributions to the American society, and I had always noticed the high participation rate on the workforce — the highest of any (demographic) group in 75 years.
I have followed Latino businesses (and their) tremendous growth rate. The number almost doubles every five years.
As the figure most widely understood by people worldwide is GDP because of the size and growth rate, we decided to estimate the Latino GDP, the total value of products and services produced by Latinos.
Then we used the same methods employed by the Department of Commerce, the same databases, so everything matched.
It took us almost a year and a half to finally understand the amount we (Latinos) contribute to the U.S. GDP: $2.13 trillion, which would be the seventh largest GDP in the world.
It was surprising to me. I thought we would be like the 30th economy. But our growth rate is an annual 2.95 percent, 70 percent higher than the non-Latino GDP. We contribute a lot to this country.
Why the difference with the non-Latino GDP?
We keep growing, while the non-Latino GDP often barely grows. Sometimes it doesn't. We're basically the economic salvation to the U.S.
We're a younger population, we're entering the labor force, while baby boomers and whites retire and die.
Each year, half a million white workers leave the workforce after turning 65 years old, while each year one million Latinos turn 18 years old and enter it. We are the future of the nation's GDP.
What are the variables prompting Latinos to become the world's seventh GDP?
One is the work ethic. Not only the workforce participation rate is high we also work more hours per week, and we work more in the private sector, which is the one sector that generates wealth. Government doesn't create wealth, and you see fewer Latinos in the public sector.
We have a good sense of family, and we tend (more than other groups) to form couples with children units, almost doubling the rate for whites. And we don't use welfare that much.
We are very healthy. We live three and a half years longer than whites, we suffer 30 percent fewer heart attacks, 35 percent less cancer, 10 percent fewer strokes. And finally, we are very patriotic.
How much does Texas contribute to Latino GDP?
Here we have about 10 million Latinos, so we can safely say they contribute more than 20 percent of that GDP.
If this is a calculation based on official figures, why hasn't the government done the math before?
I ask myself the same question every week. In California, we Latinos make up 40 percent of the population, the same as here in Texas. However, there are only a few Latino researchers, so research is limited.
But sometimes diversity is not enough for a research group in a lab. That diversity needs to find a voice. I'm a Chicano from the 1960s, and I found my voice. I make my voice heard when I see something wrong.
I was originally educated as an engineer, so I relay a lot to data. And if someone says something off-kilter, I show them the figures.
Your most recent book is La Nueva California: Latinos from Pioneers to Post-Millennials. How much the new generations contribute to that GDP?
The post-millennials are people born in 1997. They're just entering the workforce; they're still studying. The GDP estimate was made with a population with just eight years of schooling, very low-income, and nevertheless they lifted the world's seventh largest GDP.
Their U.S.-born children graduate from high school, they're going to college, they have a lot more human capital than their immigrant parents. So now let's imagine how much more they will be able to do with their investment in education.
There's this view of millennials as a generation born in a digital world, with little political commitment and less urge to work than previous generations.
Latino millennials and post-millennials are very different from whites.
To Anglo post-millennials, their parents gave them a good cultural baggage, they know the arts, they travel to Europe, etc. But parents of Latino post-millennials, almost 70 percent of whom are immigrants, instill in their children values of work, family and honesty.
Post-millennials are said to be somewhat lazy, they don't want to get direction, they're not diligent. I see that among the resident doctors I teach, and faculty members my age complain about that.
I tell them they should select Latino resident doctors because since they were 5, they made the doctor's appointments for their parents, they helped them pay their bills, to get a mortgage, they know about responsibility since they were children.
Latino millennials have fled the anti-immigrant rhetoric all their lives. White millennials aren't bothered by anything.
Why doesn't the private sector invest as much in Latino businesses?
At least half of Latino businesses lack employees. They're very small, almost micro-businesses. And an additional 20 or 30 percent employ just one worker or family members.
For me, the key is not persuading Latinos to start something, but to make its growth easier.
What would be your pitch to persuade the anglo business sector to invest in Hispanic entrepreneurs?
I would tell them their investment is not philanthropy, nor charity. It's an investment. They will get a return from that investment.
This Q&A was conducted, edited and condensed by Jenny Manrique, a reporter with Al Dia, a Spanish-language publication of The Dallas Morning News.
CORRECTION, 11:27 a.m., January 16, 2019: An earlier version of this story incorrectly translated GDP amounts as billions. Latinos who live and work in the U.S. were actually responsible for $2.13 trillion of gross domestic product in 2015, almost 12 percent of the country's $18.04 trillion GDP.
Source: Published originally on Dallas News, Latinos are America's economic salvation, by Jenny Manrique, January 10th, 2019.
Disparities in HIV Care Among Hispanic/Latino Men and Women
There is a significant prevalence of diagnosed HIV infection among Hispanics/Latinos in the United States compared with non-Hispanic whites. Researchers recently aimed to describe characteristics of Hispanics/Latinos in medical care by sex in order to identify disparities, emphasizing the need to decrease ethnic disparities in order to reach national prevention goals across populations.
The report, published by the CDC, used the 2013 and 2014 cycles of the Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) to collect demographic, behavioral, and clinical characteristic data among Hispanics/Latinos by sex.
The data revealed that Hispanic/Latina women were significantly more likely than men to live in poverty, report not speaking English well, and receive interpreter, transportation, and meal services. However, there were no significant differences between Hispanic/Latino women and men in prescription of antiretroviral therapy or sustained viral suppression, according to the report.
The lack of significant differences in clinical outcomes among Hispanic/Latino women and men may demonstrate a higher use of ancillary services by women, according to the authors.
“Levels of viral suppression for Hispanics/Latinos are lower than those found among non-Hispanic whites and lower than the national prevention goal of at least 80% of persons with diagnosed HIV infection,” the authors noted. “Providers should be cognizant of the challenges faced by Hispanics/Latinos with HIV infection in care and provide referrals to needed ancillary services.”
The data collected from the MMP included 1774 men and 577 woman who self-identified as Hispanic or Latino. The report noted that 78% of Hispanic/Latina women receiving HIV care lived at or below the federal household poverty level, compared with 54% of men. This is significant because the management of HIV care is known to be affected by poverty at all stages of the HIV care continuum. However, the higher reportage of meal and transportation services among women may helped certain negative consequences to their clinical outcomes.
“Overall, 38% of women and 21% of men reported not speaking English well, which can affect ability to understand a provider's instructions and ability to navigate the healthcare system,” the report stated. “In addition, the language barrier might prevent care providers from understanding the patient and could lead to missed opportunities to provide needed support or direction. Bilingual providers or interpreter services might have mitigated linguistic barriers.”
The report concluded it is necessary for providers to be aware of the challenges faced by this population and to improve access to ancillary services. Ethnic disparities need to be reduced in order to attain national prevention goals among this population, despite the lack of disparity found in viral suppression in HIV care in this report.
Source: Published originally on www.ajmc.com, Disparities in HIV Care Among Hispanic/Latino Men and Women, by Alison Rodriguez, December 1st, 2018.
The argument against the use of the term “Latinx”
As we continually search for ways to improve gender inclusivity in Spanish, we have come up with a myriad of broad language such as Latino/a and Latin@. The most recent of these solutions is the term “Latinx.” In our opinion, the use of the identifier “Latinx” as the new standard should be discouraged because it is a buzzword that fails to address any of the problems within Spanish on a meaningful scale. This position is controversial to some members of the Latino community here at Swarthmore and beyond, but the other positions within the community also deserve to be heard. We are Latinos, proud of our heritage, that were raised speaking Spanish. We are not arguing against gender-inclusive language. We have no prejudice towards non-binary people. We see, however, a misguided desire to forcibly change the language we and millions of people around the world speak, to the detriment of all. Under the “degenderization” of Spanish advocated by proponents of words such as “Latinx” words such as latinos, hermanos, and niños would be converted into latinxs, hermanxs, and niñxs respectively. This is a blatant form of linguistic imperialism — the forcing of U.S. ideals upon a language in a way that does not grammatically or orally correspond with it.
The term “Latinx” is used almost exclusively within the United States. According to Google trend data, “Latinx” came into popular use in October of 2014 and has since been widely popularized by American blogs and American institutions of higher education. The term is virtually nonexistent in any Spanish-speaking country. This is problematic for many reasons. It serves as a prime example of how English speakers can't seem to stop imposing their social norms on other cultures. It seems that U.S. English speakers came upon Spanish, deemed it too backwards compared to their own progressive leanings, and rather than working within the language to address any of their concerns, “fixed” it from a foreign perspective that has already had too much influence on Latino and Latin American culture. The vast majority of people in Latin America from personal experience, would likely be confused and even offended by this attempt to dictate for them how their language is to be structured and how they ought to manage their social constructs. It is interesting to observe how many “Latinx” activists become outraged when a non-Latino person wears traditional Latino costumes such as sombreros without understanding the significance of what they are wearing when they themselves participate in a form of reverse appropriation. To be clear – this is not to say these Latinos are detached from the culture, but rather taking American ideals and social beliefs and inserting into a language that has widespread use in places outside of the U.S. Rather than taking from a culture or people a part of them without respect or reverence for it, this reverse appropriation aims to put into a culture a part of one's own beliefs. This is not the forced and unwarranted taking of culture but rather the forced and unnecessary giving of incompatible segments of U.S. culture.
Perhaps the most ironic failure of the term is that it actually excludes more groups than it includes. By replacing o's and a's with x's, the word “Latinx” is rendered laughably incomprehensible to any Spanish speaker without some fluency in English. Try reading this “gender neutral” sentence in Spanish: “Lxs niñxs fueron a lx escuelx a ver sus amigxs.” You literally cannot, and it seems harmless and absurd until you realize the broader implication of using x as a gender-neutral alternative. It excludes all of Latin America, who simply cannot pronounce it in the U.S. way. It does not provide a gender-neutral alternative for Spanish-speaking non-binary individuals and thus excludes them. It excludes any older Spanish speakers who have been speaking Spanish for more than 40 years and would struggle to adapt to such a radical change. It effectively serves as an American way to erase the Spanish language. Like it or not, Spanish is a gendered language. If you take the gender out of every word, you are no longer speaking Spanish. If you advocate for the erasure of gender in Spanish, you then are advocating for the erasure of Spanish.
What then, is the solution if not “Latinx”? It may surprise you to learn that a gender-neutral term to describe the Latin-American community already exists in Spanish. Ready for it? Here it is: Latino. Gender in Spanish and gender in English are two different things. Even inanimate objects are given gendered -o/s and -a/s endings, although it is inherently understood that these objects are not tied to the genders assigned to them. In Spanish, when referencing groups, we only use the feminine ending when referring to an exclusively female group. On the other hand, when we refer to groups using the masculine ending, the group could either be exclusively males or a mix of people. For example, when someone says “los cubanos” an English speaker may instinctively interpret this as “the male Cubans,” but a Spanish speaker simply hears “the Cubans.” In fact, the only way to refer to a group that is not exclusively female in Spanish is by using the masculine ending. Therefore, according to the grammatical rules of Spanish, the term “Latinos” is already all-inclusive in terms of gender. For those that want the singular form of “Latino” without the association with gender, alternate forms exist — one can state their ancestry (“soy de Cuba/Mexico/Venezuela/etc”) or “soy de Latinoamerica”. Ultimately, the problem here is that “Latinx” does not fit within Spanish, and never will. X as a letter at the ends of words in Spanish is unpronounceable, not conjugatable, and frankly confusing. These alternate options both respect those on the non-binary spectrum and respect the dignity of the Spanish language.
We understand that some people may still support the term “Latinx”. Ultimately, we will never attempt to force anyone to personally define themselves in any way. If after reading this article anyone still feels that calling themselves “Latinx” instead of any other term brings them more happiness, we will respect that choice. However, we are strongly opposed to and cannot support this particular terminology becoming the new norm or creeping any further into a language it does not belong in. Some may be put off by gender in Spanish. But we are offended by the attempted degradation of our language at the hands of a foreign influence. “Latinx” undoubtedly stems from good intentions but is ultimately also clearly representative of a poorly thought out and self-defeating execution as well as a lack of respect for the sovereignty of Spanish.
Source: Published originally on The Phoenix, The argument against the use of the term “Latinx”, by Gilbert Guerra and Gilbert Orbea, November 19th, 2015.
How to best serve Latino students
Dive Brief:
- The University of California has received criticism for not adequately serving Latinos, the state's largest ethnic group, since affirmative action measures were banned from use in admissions decisions in California's public institutions in 1996, The New York Times reports.
- The university system's newest campus, UC Merced, most closely resembles the diversity of California with an undergraduate Latino population of 53%. UCLA and UC Berkeley, the system's flagship campuses, serve Latino populations of 21% and 13%, respectively.
- While Merced lacks traditional markers of academic excellence including star faculty members, better than average admissions test scores and a high graduation rate, Latino students are attracted to Merced because professors and administrators have created programs and services that directly cater to them. This includes parent workshops in Spanish during student orientation, culturally appropriate celebrations, availability of cultural foods and more.
Dive Insight:
Studies show that the growing racial disparities in higher education occur amongst not only student populations, but faculty members and administration as well. This may have serious implications on the success of racial and ethnic minorities who may also be first-generation college students or come from low-income families.
Current research on the success of African American college students points to elements like the development of relationships with faculty members, involvement in minority student organizations and management of relationships with family and friends back home as essential parts of a plan to attract and retain a diverse student body.
Changes in student demographics are expected to continue to have a direct impact on retention in higher education during the next few years. Texas A&M University – San Antonio is an example of an institution that has a multi-year rebranding project centered on ensuring that the campus is a welcoming environment to the city's large military population and underserved minorities.
Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana published the results of a 2016 study of the 21st Century Scholar initiative to improve student success outcomes across its 32 campuses. The program administered by The Indiana Commission for Higher Education reported results of an increase in first-year persistence of 8.8 percentage points, up from a historical average between 36.9% and 45.7%. The scholars who participated in the program were Pell eligible and first-generation college students. Participants received executive-style coaching to support them not only in academics, but in other areas of life that may have been hindering their success.
Source: Published originally on www.educationdive.com, How to best serve Latino students, by Halona Black, August 2nd, 2018.
Latinos less aware of automated external defibrillators
The prompt use of AEDs by bystanders can greatly improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest occurring in public, yet their use is strikingly low possibly because of lack of public awareness, researchers said. Previous studies have highlighted disparities in receiving CPR and CPR training in Latino communities, but no studies have assessed AED awareness and associated racial disparities.
In this study, researchers collected demographic information and AED awareness from 9,022 individuals in a nationally representative telephone survey conducted in English and Spanish.
They found:
- 26 percent of Latino respondents did not know what an AED was compared to 5 percent of Caucasians.
- 19 percent of Latinos correctly reported "anybody" could use an AED compared to 27 percent of Caucasians.
These findings provide important evidence of racial disparities in AED awareness that may impact sudden cardiac arrest outcomes, especially in Latino-predominant neighborhoods.
An AED is a computerized medical device that can check a person's heart rate and rhythm as well as deliver an electrical shock through the chest to the heart if necessary. It can help save the life of someone who has suffered sudden cardiac arrest, the abrupt loss of heart function. The AED uses voice prompts, lights and visual messages instructing the rescuer in the steps of AED use. AEDs are very accurate and easy to use. With a few hours of training, anyone can learn to operate an AED safely, according to the American Heart Association.
Source: Published originally on medicalxpress.com, Latinos less aware of automated external defibrillators, provided by: American Heart Association, November 11, 2017.