Implications for Latinos in an Economic Recovery

By Steve Moya, NewsTaco

Latinos are critical to an aging America that, with a low fertility rate, is facing growing global competition. That’s an opportunity, but there are also growing threats. Job stagnation is a very real hazard.

Timothy Noah in an insightful article in Pacific Standard outlines a number of reasons why jobs haven’t returned post-recession.

• First, as we all know, temp-workers are increasing. As an example, 10% of Walmart’s workers are now in that category, up from 1 or 2 percent before 2013.
• Second, hiring patterns post recession are changing as companies do more with less (productivity is actually accelerating with fewer employees).  Many companies are also concerned that today’s consumers don’t have the financial capacity to buy their products and services resulting in companies holding back production.
• Third, governments at all levels aren’t hiring robustly the way they have after all previous recessions. There is growing evidence that Republican control of more State capitals has reduced spending and hiring.
• Fourth, automation’s impact has changed. Contrary to initial beliefs, automation historically eliminated some jobs but created more, newer and better jobs for employees and the economy. That scenario may be changing but it is still too early to tell.

The bottom line may be that increasingly we won’t look at recessions the same way, nor react to them as we have in the past. This could be a reflection of how business and the economy are changing overall.

Implications for Latinos: personal education and skills are what separate those who survive in an increasingly productivity-focused economy and those left vulnerable. It is never to late to add to one’s skill-base. Particularly for young people, entrepreneurship is an option but that has its own hazards. Regardless, the best advice to young Latinos is to make yourself as indispensable as possible.

This article was first published in Great Potential: Latinos in a Changing America.

Steve Moya has a combination of entrepreneurial, consultancy and corporate experience in marketing, communications, strategy development, and public/governmental affairs with companies and entities that include Univision, the Los Angeles City Council, Moya, Villanueva and Associates and Manning, Selvage and Lee. Prior to moving into consulting he was Senior-Vice President and Chief Marketing officer for Humana, Inc. a Fortune 100 health benefits company where he was responsible for marketing, corporate communications and actively involved in corporate strategy development.

The challenge for Latinos is how to enhance their education levels and skills in order to be relevant in the information economy and meet the needs of the modern workplace at a time when federal, state, and local budgets are strained, if not declining. This book explains why an aging America needs Latinos. While it looks in-depth at the economic forces we’re facing, it focuses on strategies Latino families and communities throughout the nation can adopt to build a better future for themselves and the nation.

Interested? Click HERE to purchase Great Potential: Latinos in a Changing America.