63,000 Hispanics Gave Up Looking for Work During La Raza 'Month of Action'

In August, the job market for Hispanics grew more bleak, even as the National Council of La Raza had a “Month of Action” campaign to demand comprehensive immigration reform. 

Over the month, 63,000 more Hispanic workers completely left the labor force because they gave up looking for work, and 12.7 million Hispanics still in the workforce remained unemployed.  

The comprehensive immigration reform bill La Raza is advocating would reduce the wages of working class Americans who have or can find jobs, according to the Congressional Budget Office. 

According to La Raza, the Hispanic unemployment rate “remained a full two points higher than the national rate at 9.3%” in August and it decreased by 0.1 percentage point because of the Hispanics that left the workforce. In fact, 98,000 Hispanics left the labor force between July and August, and “Hispanic employment declined by 63,000 people” last month. 

Overall, the Hispanic labor force “dropped by 0.4 percentage points last month,” which La Raza said was “a possible signal of workers’ lack of confidence that jobs will be available to them.” Only 66.3% of Hispanics over the age of 16 are in the labor force.