By: rogelio saenz & Carlos siordia  (Page 6/8)

The growth of Latinos in new destination regions has been quite impressive. Aside from Nevada, these states are located in the South and Midwest. North Carolina had the most rapid growth with its Latino population increasing about five-fold between 1990 and 2000, with the Latino populations of Arkansas and Georgia quadrupling during this period. Other southern and midwestern states with the greatest levels of growth in the Latino population include Tennessee (278%), South Carolina (211%), Alabama (208%), Kentucky (173%), Minnesota (166%), and Nebraska (155%). It will be important to monitor the extent to which Latino newcomers in new destinations are racialized and become subject to discrimination, prejudice, and hostility or whether they are integrated into their new communities. While there are islands of hope where Latinos have been fairly well integrated—such as in Dalton, Georgia (see Hernandez-Leon and Zuniga, 2003)—it is likely that Latinos are likely to encounter greater ill will in these regions (see Chiricos et al., 2001).

The growth of Latinos in new destination regions has been quite impressive. Aside from Nevada, these states are located in the South and Midwest. North Carolina had the most rapid growth with its Latino population increasing about five-fold between 1990 and 2000, with the Latino populations of Arkansas and Georgia quadrupling during this period. Other southern and midwestern states with the greatest levels of growth in the Latino population include Tennessee (278%), South Carolina (211%), Alabama (208%), Kentucky (173%), Minnesota (166%), and Nebraska (155%). It will be important to monitor the extent to which Latino newcomers in new destinations are racialized and become subject to discrimination, prejudice, and hostility or whether they are integrated into their new communities. While there are islands of hope where Latinos have been fairly well integrated—such as in Dalton, Georgia (see Hernandez-Leon and Zuniga 2003)—it is likely that Latinos are likely to encounter greater ill will in these regions (see Chiricos et al. 2001).

The age/sex composition of immigrants

The Latino and Mexican immigrant populations are relatively young and most often male. In particular, the population is clustered in the young to middle age working age groups. Indeed, two-thirds of Latino immigrants are between the ages of 15 and 44 as is the case among seven of every ten Mexican immigrants. Furthermore, among immigrants 15 to 44 years of age, there are 123 males per 100 females among Latinos with the relative prominence of males being even higher among Mexicans (136 males per 100 females). Note that the immigrant population includes relatively few youngsters and elderly.

Language use among recent immigrants

One of the barriers that immigrants —especially those with lower levels of education— encounter is that they are not proficient in the language of the host society. This is the case amongst Latino and, particularly, Mexican immigrants who immigrated to the United States in the previous ten years before each decennial census examined here (Figure 6). Close to two-thirds of Mexican and three-fifths of Latino immigrants who moved to the United States between 1990 and 2000 spoke only Spanish in 2000 (i.e., they spoke Spanish at home and spoke English “not well” or “not at all”). Background analyses reveal, however, that the level of English proficiency increases with time in the United States. Such increasing English proficiency is positively related to wages among Latino immigrants (Dávila and Mora 2000).