This monthly digest is written primarily for the staff of UC Cooperative Extension. It is produced by the staff of ANR's News and Information Outreach in Spanish (NOS) based on news reported by mainstream news media and reputable research institutions. Inclusion in the digest does not imply endorsement, nor does SBMS assume responsibility for the veracity of the information. We invite our readers to refer to the source to read more of each particular brief; we'll try to always include a link.

For the first time, Hispanic, black, Asian and other nonwhite residents account for half the population of the nation’s largest cities, according to new census figures. In small-town America, ethnic diversity is growing as well, according to a story published in the New York Times. The demographic shifts reflect economic forces that have driven middle-income whites and some blacks to smaller places, creating jobs in construction and other low-skilled industries in those small suburbs, according to a demographer cited in the story, William H. Frey of the Brookings Institution. A separate study found that poverty rates are growing in the nation’s midsize counties, small towns and rural areas. However, the high poverty rates in Appalachia, the rural South, the Rio Grande Valley and the Upper Midwest are linked to long-term social and economic trends, rather than short-term fluctuations in wages or unemployment.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, December 9, 2008, http://www.census.gov/

El camarón que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente (Don't let the grass grow under your feet).

Rising Latino joblessness in the United States is delivering a blow to Latin American economies that depend on emigrant money. Remittances slowed down worldwide from a 16 percent annual increase in 2007 down to only seven percent in 2008. Given the circumstances, Latin American migrants are contemplating the idea of returning home or not leaving for El Norte in the first place. The story reports that illegal immigrant dropped from 800,000 per year between 2000 and 2004 to 500,000 in 2007. Tougher border enforcement has also caused a reduction in illegal immigration. In 2007, more than 290,000 illegal immigrants were deported.
Source: Pew Hispanic Center, "Latino Workers in the Ongoing Recession: 2007 to 2008,"  December 15, 2008, www.pewhispanic.org.

California’s need for college-educated workers is outpacing the state’s ability to produce them, and the gap is expected to widen in the future, a report released by the Public Policy Institute of California concludes. The institute cites two main reasons for the decline: 1) California workers aged 50 to 64 have the highest levels of education of any age group in the state and will be retirement age by 2025. 2) Latinos, a group with low levels of education, make up a growing share of the state’s workers. Making matters worse, the supply of workers with a high school diploma or less is projected to exceed economic demand. That will result in lower wages and fewer job opportunities for non-college graduates. The report, California’s Future Workforce: Will There Be Enough College Graduates?, points out that in 1980, a California man with a bachelor’s degree earned 39 percent more than one with only a high school diploma. By 2006, the difference was 86 percent.
Source: Public Policy Institute of California, "California's Future Workforce: Will There Be Enough College Graduates?"Dec. 8, 2008,  http://www.ppic.org/main/event.asp?i=895

A new report by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health reveals that one in 10 Hispanics have diabetes and one in four Hispanics with diabetes are unaware of their condition. Alliance CEO Jane Delgado calls the situation “unacceptable.” Hispanics are nearly two times as likely to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetimes as non-Hispanic whites. The fact that the Hispanic population is aging further increases the likelihood a increasing amount of people will suffer serious diabetes complications, such as blindness and foot and lower leg amputations. The National Alliance for Hispanic Health is making available new resources, including referral to local health providers for diabetes screening and treatment, and a new Spanish and English brochure with facts about diabetes. The brochure may be ordered by calling (866) 783-2645 or visiting http://www.hispanichealth.org/diabetes.
Source: National Alliance for Hispanic health, "State of Diabetes Among Hispanics", November 14, 2008, http://www.hispanichealth.org

Nearly a quarter-million Latinos who immigrated to the U.S. between 1990 and 1999 have left the work force over the past year because of the recession, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center. The report’s author, Rakesh Kocchar, said the number reflects 4.2 percent of 7.2 million Latinos who immigrated during the 1990s. The report also found that the unemployment rate for all Latinos was 7.9 percent in the third-quarter of 2008, up sharply from 5.7 percent a year earlier. At the same time, unemployment for the U.S. work force was 6.1 percent. Many of the job losses were in construction. The Pew report said 156,000 Latinos were put out of construction jobs in the past year. Overall, employed Latino immigrants saw the average wage rise by 5.5 percent, possibly because immigrants in low-wage jobs are leaving the work force.
Source: The Modesto Bee, AP story, December 15, 2008, http://www.modbee.com/business/story/53410.html