  urlLink Labor Market Outcomes of Hispanics by Generation. ERIC Digest. This ERIC Digest is by Richard Fry. From the ERIC Digest: The Latino population is on the cusp of a major generational change. For the past several decades its growth was fueled mostly by immigration.
Now, the extraordinary fertility rate of foreign-born Latinos living in the United States is fueling Hispanic population growth at a faster rate than the influx of new immigrants. The Hispanic population and labor force is increasingly native-born (U.S. Census Bureau, 2001). The different Latino generations, i.e., immigrants and their U.S.-born offspring, play markedly different roles in the labor force, and they present dissimilar challenges and opportunities to employers and policy-makers.
This digest summarizes the outcomes and determinants of Latinos in the workforce, with an emphasis on outcomes by generation. Underlying Demographics U.S. labor market outcomes vary significantly according to the age of the worker. Earnings rise and employment stabilizes with experience. So, for example, teen unemployment rates are often multiples of the rates experienced by middle-aged adults.When it comes to Hispanics, labor market analysis must recognize the unique age structure of Latino generations. Working-age Latino immigrants tend to be mature adults; about 1 in 10 is between the ages of 16 and 24.
By contrast, 4 in 10 working-ages econd generation Latinos are between the critical ages of 16and 24, reflecting the native-born youth boom. Age sensitive labor market analysis reveals that the fortunes of this second generation of Latinos appear very different, depending upon whether we investigate outcomes for youth or focus on adults over the age of 25 (Fry & Lowell, 2002). 
