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Foreign-born Latino workers made notable progress between 1995 and 2005 when ranked by hourly wage, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center. . Newly arrived Hispanic workers also were much less likely to be low-wage earners in 2005 than in 1995, in part because they were older, better educated and more likely to be employed in construction than in agriculture. Yet, many foreign-born Latinos remain low-wage earners. Foreign-born workers in general did well during that time period, though there were significant differences among them. While Latino workers moved out of the low end of the wage distribution and into the middle, Asians significantly boosted their presence in the high-wage workforce. The share of foreign-born workers in the labor force grew from 7% in 1980 to 15% in 2005. Latinos, who also represent the largest share of foreign-born workers, accounted for 13% of the overall labor force in 2005, up from 6% in 1980.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center, "1995 – 2005: Foreign-Born Latinos Make Progress on Wages," August 21, 2007, http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=78