While the job market is proving trying for people all over the United States, a new study shows Latino Immigrants to the United States losing jobs at a faster rate than the workforce as a whole.  The study says this finding is partly due to significant cutbacks in the construction industry, where many foreign-born Hispanics are employed.

The survey was conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and was based on US Census figures.  It showed that unemployment among foreign-born Latinos reached 8 percent in the 4th quarter of 2008.  That number is up from 5.1 percent a year earlier.  In the workforce as a whole, unemployment rose to 6.6 percent in the same period, up from 4.6 percent the year before.

“Job losses are now widespread across the economy, but the construction sector remains the leading source of job loss for both Hispanics and non-Hispanics,” the study said.

According to government tabulations, about 10.8 Million foreign-born Hispanics worked in the United States at the end of 2008.  These figures do not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.

Since the US officially went into a recession in 2007, the economy has seen a loss of 3.6 million jobs.

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