Job growth for Hispanics outpacing others in US

Washington

WITH the economy adding nearly 300,000 jobs in February, it's clear that the labour market is on a roll. And, perhaps surprisingly, there is no group for whom that is truer than Hispanics.

Employment among Hispanics has increased 5 per cent over the past 12 months, according to the Labor Department, compared with 3.8 per cent for blacks and 1.4 per cent for whites. (The last figure partly reflects the rising number of retirements among the aging white population.) Of all the country's major racial and ethnic groups, only Hispanics, as of late last year, had returned to their unemployment levels before the recession, according to the recent Economic Report of the President.