Latino NY’ers are have been especially impacted by the current economic crisis according to a study released today by the Community Service Society (full disclosure, I worked for CSS many years ago).

-More than 1 in 4 Latinos lost their jobs. More than 4 in 10 low-income Latinos either had their hours, wages, and/or tips reduced, or lost their jobs—or both—in the past year.

-Low-income Latinos are more likely than Whites or Blacks to frequently worry about having enough money to cover expenses and bills. Latinos are more likely to worry about housing as well.

-Low income Latinos are more likely to have multiple workers in their household, but less likely to report that they have employer-sponsored benefits;

-For moderate to higher income Latino families, one in five fell behind in housing payments, and over a third had their health care costs increase;

- Latina and Black low-income working mothers are most worried about not being able to find or keep a job.

Some of the reasons cited for the harder time the Latino community is having include a lack of access to English as a Second Language programs and a failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

In the aftermath of CNN’s Latino in America series, there has been alot of talk about how immigration is not THE issue for Latinos but rather only for a small portion of Latinos. Something that I have found myself saying alot in conversations lately is that while this may be true, immigration is an issue that impacts all the other areas that Latinos are worried about, like the economy and health care. The right wing doesn’t hesitate to raise the immigration issue as a way to shut down movement forward on many fronts, when will the so called defenders of the the people raise the immigration issue as a way to make that change so many voted for last November?

Via / El Diario/ La Prensa