The Role of Latino Communities:

 

A Growing Economic Power House

 

That Can’t Be Ignored

 

By

 

Fernando Cruz-Villalba

 

Twelve percent of the US population (35 million individuals) is Latino according to the 2000 Census. In general, the Latino population is younger than the average non-Hispanic population.  It is therefore a more important component of the working age population than the percentage in the overall population would suggest. 

 

The influx of Latinos into this country began at the professional level from the 1950s, especially with the first few waves of Cuban immigrants.  The Peter Pan program enabled a largely professional group of individuals and families, sons and parents to easily immigrate into the U.S.  Welcome mats were cast upon the shores of Miami and throughout the country.

 

Most recent immigrant groups are from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America, especially the Salvadorians who fled to the US in the wake of the wars of the 1980s.

 

The US has also had long-standing migrant labor entering from Mexico into California and the southwest serving the agricultural sector.  Traditionally these laborers returned south of the border when their work was done. 

 

This phenomenon has now spread throughout the US, e.g. Mexicans picking cranberries in Wisconsin, crab and poultry workers in the mid-Atlantic from Guatemala, apple-pickers in Washington state, etc, and much of the migration is now internal within the US, especially since it is now so much more difficult to leave and re-enter this country.  It may surprise you to know that the US Government offers only 6,000 work visas per year for guest workers, a reduction from previous levels.

           

Why is the USA a magnet for all kinds of workers worldwide? Simply put, it offers a plausible, attainable quality of living conditions for those who work.  

 

Those Latinos who are resident in the US need certain conditions to produce efficiently. Cultural competency on the part of non-Latinos in dealing with a diverse population works wonders.  

 

Learning Spanish is crucial to understanding and appreciating the Latino culture, particularly in Florida, California and the southwest, which has the largest share of Latinos claiming residence within their boundaries.  

 

Spanish is already a common language of commerce next to English, especially along southern border states, and especially in those industries that have benefited from NAFTA and the increased ability of capital and industry (but apparently not labor) to cross borders to the south.

 

South Americans see Miami as the city up north that clearly forms part of their circle of influence. As a trading center and entry point, Miami has the largest volume of Gulf coast cargo traffic serving the southern hemisphere, New Orleans was a close second.  

 

Because Latinos are such an important component in our economy, expectations among them are likely to be higher and more sophisticated in coming years.  

 

Remember when ketchup was the primary sauce on super market shelves? Now one finds dozens of salsas from which to choose, and some are downright picante.

 

Spanish-speakers were the first Europeans to settle in North America, spreading across the southern portions of the North American continent through the sixteenth century. 

 

As the Latino demographic continues to grow, by either migration or birth rate, the implications for how the USA will look in the year 2011 are quite different than any trend predicted in previous decades.  Spanish will truly become a second language.

  

Mr. Cruz-Villalba, an education consultant, received his Masters Degree in City Planning  from MIT, and has worked in micro finance projects in Latin America and the Middle East.  He curently serves as First Vice President of the Board of Montgomery County Community Television, is a past president of the Hispanic Alliance of Montgomery County, MD,  and received a Community Service Award from the County Board of Education for his service to Latino families in the county in 2005.  He lives in the Washington, DC metro area with his wife Dr. Jo Ann Moran-Cruz, a Professor at Georgetown University.