Released: January 26, 2012 Hispanics Say They Have the Worst of
a Bad Economy A majority of Latinos (54%) believe that the
economic downturn that began in 2007 has been harder on them
than on other groups in America. Large shares report that they
or someone in their household has been out of work in the past
year (59%); that their personal finances are in “only fair” or
“poor” shape (75%); that they canceled or delayed a major
purchase in the past year (49%); or that they are underwater on
their mortgage (28% of Latino homeowners). The findings are
drawn from a new telephone survey of a nationally representative
sample of 1,220 Hispanic adults conducted by the Pew Hispanic
Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. For a full
description of the survey methodology, see Appendix C. Latinos,
who make up 16% of the population of the United States, have
long trailed other Americans on most measures of economic well-
being, but analyses of recent government trend data indicate
that the gaps have widened since 200