It took a 777-point nose dive of the stock market for many Americans to realize that the financial crisis is the real deal.
The multibillion-dollar package to rescue Wall Street got a little more support among taxpayers when they finally understood that as bad as it sounds, not approving it could be much worse.
Almost everyone in the United States has been affected by the economic crisis. But according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center, the economic slump has disproportionately affected Latino workers, who make up 14 percent of the job market in the United States.
Here's how: In the first quarter of 2008, the unemployment rate for Latino immigrants was 7.5 percent, mostly due to the slump in the construction industry. Some 52 percent of working-age Latinos in the United States are immigrants, the study points out.
In a bad economy, the first jobs to go are those held by unskilled immigrant workers. There are cutbacks in the service industry, in restaurants, in hotels and in manufacturing. People cutting corners in their expenses lay off their domestic help or gardening services.
This has a domino effect on immigrants' lives. When they don't have a job or see their salaries reduced, it is more difficult for them to cover expenses. Their dire situation is also reflected in the money they send back home to their families.
Financial guru Julie Stav also has seen a disproportionate number of Latinos hit by the housing crisis. A study conducted by her firm in Los Angeles found that a high percentage of Latinos were among those who received the now-infamous subprime mortgage loans.
It is the lack of information on such a complex issue in a language that they can understand that has a lot of Latino families afraid and unaware of how to deal with this crisis.
Stav believes a fundamental error that Latino immigrants have made is not realizing that the American dream is "not just buying a home but being able to keep it." For those, the dream has turned into a nightmare.
Reach Maria Elena Salinas at www.mariaesalinas.com.
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