Employment trends of Hispanics in the U.S. labor force

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

National Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins each year on September 15, celebrates the culture, history, and contributions of U.S. Hispanics and Latinos—both native and foreign born. Let’s take a closer look at national employment statistics for this diverse group. We’ll focus on how the main labor market measures for Hispanics or Latinos have changed in the past years, highlighting the not-so-subtle differences among them.

BLS has been collecting data in the Current Population Survey on the labor market characteristics of people identifying as Hispanic or Latino since 1973. In addition to releasing overall estimates, BLS has also been publishing estimates for detailed Hispanic or Latino groups, including Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. Enhancing our online database, we now offer monthly and quarterly estimates for a broader range of detailed Hispanic and Latino groups, dating back to January 2014. These estimates provide a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the labor market experiences within these diverse communities.

Population Distribution among Hispanics

Hispanics represent many nationalities and ethnicities, including Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, people from 15 different Central and South American countries, people from the Dominican Republic, and Other Hispanics. The Hispanic civilian noninstitutional population accounted for 18 percent of the U.S. population 16 years and older in 2023, up from 12 percent in 2003. As shown in the chart below, people with Mexican heritage, at 59 percent, were the largest group of Hispanics or Latinos in the United States in 2023. Salvadorans represented the smallest share of the Hispanic population at 3 percent.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in table 1 below.

Labor Force

In 2023, Hispanics comprised 19 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force, and their number in the labor force—31.8 million in 2023—has increased 69 percent since 2003, a rate of growth more than 10 times that of the non-Hispanic workforce (6 percent). All combined, Hispanics make up the nation’s fastest growing worker group, and accounted for about two-thirds of the net labor force increase between 2003 and 2023.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in table 2 below.

In 2023, the labor force participation rate—the percentage of the population that is either working or actively looking for work—for Hispanics (66.9 percent) was higher than that of non-Hispanics (61.7 percent) by 5.2 percentage points. A closer look at detailed Hispanic groups reveals notable variations in participation rates, with some differences exceeding 10 percentage points. Specifically, Salvadorans (71.2 percent), Other Central Americans (excluding Salvadorans) (71.7 percent), and South Americans (71.0 percent) had the highest rates among Hispanics, while Puerto Ricans had the lowest participation rate within this group, at 60.5 percent in 2023.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in table 3 below.

Employment–Population Ratio

The Hispanic labor force has experienced remarkable growth, with the number of Hispanics employed rising from 17.4 million in 2003 to 30.3 million in 2023, an increase of 75 percent. This growth rate surpasses that of the non-Hispanic workforce by a factor of 8, with the latter increasing by only 9 percent over the same period.

A review of historical data reveals that the employment–population ratio—the percentage of the population that is employed—for Hispanics or Latinos has consistently exceeded the U.S. national average since 2000. Initially, this gap was narrow, with a 1.3 percentage point difference in 2000 (65.7 percent vs. 64.4 percent). However, by 2023, this difference had expanded to 3.5 percentage points, with the employment–population ratio for Hispanics or Latinos standing at 63.8 percent, compared to 60.3 percent for the United States as a whole. This difference can be attributed to the demographic composition of the Hispanic population, which has a larger share of people 25 to 54 years old, at 56 percent. As people in this age group are more likely to be employed than those in younger and older age groups, the Hispanic population's age distribution contributes to their greater likelihood of employment. Among the total population, people ages 25 to 54 accounted for 48 percent of the U.S. civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over in 2023.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in table 4 below.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a sharp decline in employment–population ratios for all Hispanic groups in 2020, but by 2023, most Hispanic groups had fully recovered. Among Hispanics, Salvadorans and Puerto Ricans have ratios still slightly below their pre-pandemic values.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in table 5 below.

Less Education leads to Higher Unemployment

Twenty-two percent of the Hispanic or Latino population age 25 and over held a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2023, compared with 39 percent of all people of this age group in the United States. One-third of Hispanics were high school graduates (no college). Overall, around 1 in 4 people in the United States had finished high school (no college).

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in table 6 below.

Educational attainment has an impact on other work-related characteristics such as unemployment. Hispanics’ lower than average levels of formal education contribute to often having a higher unemployment rate than other groups. The unemployment rate for Hispanics was 4.6 percent in 2023 compared with a rate of 3.6 percent for the United States overall. The jobless rate for non-Hispanics or Latinos was 3.4 percent.

Unemployment rates of Hispanics or Latinos varied in 2023. The jobless rates for these groups ranged from 3.4 percent for Cubans to 5.7 percent for Dominicans.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in table 7 below.

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are not seasonally adjusted. For more information, see “Race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity.” We also have more information about detailed Hispanic or Latino ethnicity groups.

Table 1. Distribution of detailed Hispanic or Latino civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over in the United States, 2023
Hispanic or Latino origin	Percent of Hispanic or Latino population in U.S.
Mexican	59
Puerto Rican	9
Cuban	5
Salvadoran	3
Other Central American (excludes Salvadoran)	7
South American	8
Dominican	4
Other Hispanic or Latino (excludes Dominican)	4

Table 2. Labor force of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over, 2003–2023, annual averages
Year	Hispanic or Latino	Non-Hispanic or Latino
2003	18,813,000	127,697,000
2004	19,272,000	128,129,000
2005	19,824,000	129,497,000
2006	20,694,000	130,734,000
2007	21,602,000	131,522,000
2008	22,024,000	132,262,000
2009	22,352,000	131,790,000
2010	22,748,000	131,140,000
2011	22,898,000	130,719,000
2012	24,391,000	130,583,000
2013	24,771,000	130,618,000
2014	25,370,000	130,552,000
2015	26,126,000	131,004,000
2016	26,797,000	132,390,000
2017	27,339,000	132,980,000
2018	28,336,000	133,739,000
2019	29,053,000	134,486,000
2020	28,970,000	131,773,000
2021	29,424,000	131,780,000
2022	30,601,000	133,686,000
2023	31,818,000	135,299,000

Table 3. Labor force participation rate of detailed Hispanic or Latino groups, 2023
Ethnicity	Labor force participation rate
Hispanic or Latino	66.9
Non-Hispanic or Latino	61.7
Other Central American (excludes Salvadoran)	71.7
Salvadoran	71.2
South American	71.0
Mexican	67.1
Dominican	65.1
Other Hispanic or Latino (excludes Dominican)	64.1
Cuban	64.0
Puerto Rican	60.5

Table 4. Employment–population ratio of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over by Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1990–2023 annual averages
Year	Total	Hispanics or Latinos
1990	62.8	61.9
1991	61.7	59.8
1992	61.5	59.1
1993	61.7	59.1
1994	62.5	59.5
1995	62.9	59.7
1996	63.2	60.6
1997	63.8	62.6
1998	64.1	63.1
1999	64.3	63.4
2000	64.4	65.7
2001	63.7	64.9
2002	62.7	63.9
2003	62.3	63.1
2004	62.3	63.8
2005	62.7	64.0
2006	63.1	65.2
2007	63.0	64.9
2008	62.2	63.3
2009	59.3	59.7
2010	58.5	59.0
2011	58.4	58.9
2012	58.6	59.5
2013	58.6	60.0
2014	59.0	61.2
2015	59.3	61.6
2016	59.7	62.0
2017	60.1	62.7
2018	60.4	63.2
2019	60.8	63.9
2020	56.8	58.7
2021	58.4	61.1
2022	60.0	63.5
2023	60.3	63.8

Table 5. Employment–population ratio of Hispanics or Latinos and non-Hispanics or Latinos in 2019 and 2023, annual averages
Group	2019	2023
Non-Hispanic or Latino	60.2	59.6
Hispanic or Latino	63.9	63.8
Other Hispanic or Latino (excludes Dominican)	59.3	60.7
Dominican	60.9	61.4
South American	68.3	68.4
Other Central American (excludes Salvadoran)	67.9	68.0
Salvadoran	69.7	68.2
Cuban	62.0	61.8
Puerto Rican	59.0	57.3
Mexican	64.1	64.0

Table 6. Percent distribution of the civilian noninstitutional population age 25 and over by educational attainment and Hispanic or Latino and non-Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2023 annual averages
Educational attainment	Total	Hispanic or Latino	Non-Hispanic or Latino
Less than a high school diploma	8.6	24.3	5.4
High school graduates, no college	27.9	32.5	26.9
Some college or associate degree	25.0	21.4	25.7
Bachelor's degree and higher	38.6	21.7	41.9

Table 7. Unemployment rates by detailed Hispanic or Latino and non-Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2023 annual averages
Ethnicity	Unemployment rate
Hispanic or Latino	4.6
Non-Hispanic or Latino	3.4
Dominican	5.7
Other Hispanic or Latino (excludes Dominican)	5.3
Puerto Rican	5.2
Other Central American (excludes Salvadoran)	5.2
Mexican	4.6
Salvadoran	4.3
South American	3.6
Cuban	3.4