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

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

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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