By: tito guerrero iii  (Page 6/7)

Employment in higher education

Colleges and universities in the United States employed more members of the faculty from the four major ethnic minority groups in 1997 than in 1995. The number of minority full-time faculty members increased by 9.5 percent in this two-year period, compared with gains of less than 2 percent for Whites and 2.8 percent for all faculty members. All four major ethnic minority groups achieved moderate to large gains in the number of full professors from 1995 to 1997. Overall, there was a 12 percent increase of minority faculty members at the full professor level during this period. Also, tenure rates for minority members of the faculty increased by 2 percentage points from 1995 to 1997. However, 75 percent of White members of the faculty received tenure in 1997, compared with 64 percent of minority faculty members (Harvey).

Men and women in all four ethnic minority groups showed increases in tenure rates for the two-year period. Hispanic women posted the largest increase, a gain of 4 percentage points. In addition, the number of minorities in full-time administrative positions increased by 3.1 percent from 1995 to 1997, largely because of the gains made by women.

Nationwide in 2000, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and American Indians accounted for 11.2 percent of all college and university chief executive officers (Harvey).

The number of African American full-time faculty members increased by 3.3 percent from 1995 to 1997. Even with these small gains, African Americans continued to represent only 5 percent of all full-time members of the faculty in higher education. African Americans have made little progress in their proportional representation since 1993. African Americans continue to have the lowest tenure rate among the four major ethnic minority groups. In 1997, African Americans trailed Whites in tenure rates by 14 percentage points. In contrast, the number of Hispanic full-time members of the faculty increased by more than 14 percent from 1995 to 1997. This represents the largest increase of the four major ethnic minority groups. Among Hispanics, the number of full-time members of the faculty increased by 46.4 percent from 1989 to 1997. Also, the number of Hispanic full professors increased by 18.3 percent from 1995 to 1997—the largest percentage gain among the four major ethnic minority groups. However, Hispanics in 1997 continued to represent less than 2 percent of all full professors (Harvey).

General

When the nation was forced to redraw its political lines after the 1990 census to give Hispanics greater representation in Congress, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus grew from 11 members to 17. Unfortunately, despite the dramatic increase of 58 percent in the Hispanic population that was recorded in Census 2000, it appears that there will be only one additional member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the next round of elections for Congress (Radelat).

In the corporate boardroom, Hispanics last year held almost two out of every one hundred board seats at Fortune 1,000 companies. That percentage has been rising roughly 10 percent a year since 1993 (Plasencia). However, in the workforce, a small number of Hispanic workers occupy managerial or professional positions. Hispanic employees tend to be limited to low-paying, low-benefit jobs in the service sector, the only jobs available to individuals with a limited education (The Latin American Research and Service Agency). And, while on-the-job injuries and illnesses have decreased nationwide, Hispanic workers are dying disproportionately in the workplace. The incidence rate for on-the-job injury and illness dropped 31 percent between 1992 and 2000. Also, the number of fatal workplace injuries dipped by 2 percent from 1999 to 2000 at the same time that overall employment increased. However, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report on fatalities for 2000 shows that 815 Hispanic workers, including 494 foreign-born workers, died as a result of job-related injuries, an 11.6 percent increase from the previous year (Sixel).