Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

OLLAS releases study on economic impact of 2008 crisis on Latinos

A new report detailing the demographic and socioeconomic trends of Nebraska’s Latinos before, during and after the 2008 economic crisis was recently released by the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies at UNO.

Dr. Lissette Aliagna-Linares is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at UNO and Senior Research Associate at CPAR (the Center for Public Affairs and Research). 

She says the report shows some promising social indicators but also some worrisome trends. 

Linares says on the plus side, language proficiency and college enrollment among Latino youth are on the rise while teen pregnancy and dropout rates show a decline. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to unemployment, the Latino community hasn’t quite recovered from the downturn.

“The Latino population had an unemployment rate of 7% pre-crisis. When the recession hit, it only increased to 8% but it did continue to grow in the post-recession period to 10%.  It’s a worrisome trend in terms of what the Latino community is facing.”

Aliagna-Linares says the national and state trend is that the minority population will keep growing, so it’s important to see how we can integrate these people into the community and provide them social mobility.

The full report is available online at unomaha.edu/ollas.