District Latinos face challenges in employment and housing, study says: The recession has been particularly harsh for many of the District's Latino residents, who are heavily represented in some of the lowest-paying jobs and have clustered in neighborhoods where rents and condominium conversions soared during the decade, according to an Urban Institute study.
The State of Latinos in the District of Columbia paints what it characterized as a 'bleak picture' of recent Latino employment trends in the city. The study says that many District Hispanics are vulnerable because their education levels and English-language skills are low, making it difficult to shift to another line of work when they lose their jobs. Almost half have no high school diploma, including a third with less than a ninth-grade education, the study said.
The report relied on census data through 2007 and interviews with community leaders and organizations to measure the recession's impact. It was commissioned by the Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs to help determine how to help Latinos thrive.
