Study finds lower pay for LV Hispanic immigrants

Grace Leong

Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 11:30 a.m.

A study released Wednesday by state educators and Hispanic business representatives found non-native Hispanic workers in Clark County -- the area's fastest-growing immigrant group -- earned considerably less than the average industry wage in a number of industries that employ many Hispanic workers.

The study assessed the economic impact of 605 non-native Hispanic workers in terms of employment, output and tax revenue in Clark County.

It attributed the wage disparity to several factors.

These include discrimination, immigrants with poor English skills and limited education being limited to lower-paying jobs as well as a willingness among those working without proper immigration documents to accept lower wages than documented immigrants.

Of those surveyed, 30 percent reported they had been abused or discriminated against because of their ethnicity, with verbal abuse by supervisors being the most common complaint. Work and salary discrimination took second place with 27 percent, while 6.6 percent said they had had wages withheld or not paid at all.

Except for education and finance, insurance and real estate; most non-native Hispanic workers earned between 10 percent and 42 percent less than the average industry wage in industries including hotel and non-hotel services, wholesale and retail trade, construction, restaurants, landscape and gardening.

For example, almost 30 percent of Hispanics surveyed worked in the construction industry. These workers made $23,495 annually compared with the Clark County average in- dustry wage of $40,618.

The study found non-native Hispanics in finance, insurance and real estate made almost double that of the Clark County average industry wage of $21,210, while those in education earned 57 percent more than the Clark County average wage of $16,550. But this group represents only about 1 percent of those surveyed.

The study was prompted largely by a change in the composition of the in-migration demographic, insufficient hard data on non-native Hispanics' economic contributions and alleged misconceptions that this group is largely a "drain" on the state's social services and economy.

Sponsored in part by Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the study is a collaborative effort of UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research, Nevada State College's Reynaldo L. Martinez Institute for Research and Leadership, the Mexican Consulate of Las Vegas, and Hispanic television channel KINC Channel 15.

Harrah's spokeswoman Jan Jones said the study is significant because 20 percent of Clark County's population is Hispanic. But she questioned the study's findings on salary discrimination, saying that this, particularly in the gaming industry, is likely to be kept in check by collective bargaining agreements with unions.

"Does the study examine whether the Hispanics surveyed are union or non-union? That has to be considered because so much of our (gaming) industry is covered by unions," she said. Twenty-five percent of Harrah's employees in Las Vegas are Hispanic.

Raymond Sandoval, the Reynaldo Martinez Institute's executive director, agreed.

"We didn't look specially at unions in our study. That's why there should be follow-up studies. But this is the first time we've put a numerical face on the wage differential. We just don't know enough to determine to what extent this is due to discrimination," he said.

Sandoval said the research group hopes the study's economic data on non-native Hispanics will serve as a foundation for future policy initiatives in the public and private sectors.

"Some employers may be taking advantage of an immigrant's undocumented status to offer low wages. But we don't know for sure until we do follow-up studies," he said. "If indeed discrimination is an issue for non-native Hispanics, then there should be a commission to look at that issue in detail and employers of Hispanics should also make sure to equalize wages."

"Policymakers should also look at how the buying power of Hispanics is addressed by the business community. Maybe there should be more low-cost housing available for Hispanics," he said.

Jones agreed.

"If you have Hispanic workers accepting lower pay because they aren't legal, that's an issue the workers and employers have to deal with. If they're being paid less because of education, then Clark County can look at tax initiatives to get funding for education," she said.

Meanwhile, Sandoval said he hopes the study will prompt more businesses to address the needs of Hispanic workers and encourage them to consider promoting them to higher-level positions.

"A lot of businesses don't see Hispanics as a market. It's only in the last five years that major corporations have begun going after the Hispanic market," Sandoval said.

"Hispanics are mostly depicted as being a deficit and a drain on the economy. But that's a myth. In reality, they make significant contributions to the state economy through taxes and job creation," he said.

Agreeing was Mary Riddel, the UNLV center's associate director.

"The main point of the study is to highlight the significant contributions these Hispanic immigrants have made to Nevada's economy. Whether they work under the table or not, these people pay a lot of taxes, especially sales taxes," Riddel said. "Since the Hispanic population is the fastest growing immigrant group, it's important to know where they hold jobs and where they spend their money."

The study found annual wages for non-native Hispanics in Clark County total more than $2.6 billion. Their total spending impact is estimated at $15.6 billion, while state and local governments are receiving $829 million in tax contributions annually, the study said.

About 20 percent of the one million-plus jobs in Clark County were held by Hispanics in 2002, Riddel said. 131,000 jobs were directly held by Hispanics and their spending helped create another 73,441 jobs in 2002.

The 2000 U.S. Census found the Hispanic population in Clark County grew by 22 percent compared with a 12 percent growth in 1990. That's the largest percentage increase in terms of overall population growth by race and ethnicity in Clark County, said Keith Schwer, the UNLV Center's director.

Of a total population of 1.5 million in Clark County in 2003, 330,000 are Hispanics.

Schwer noted that Latino population growth has typically been more dramatic in the southwest United States than anywhere else in the nation because of the area's proximity to Mexico, where a majority of the non-Hispanic immigrants in Clark County originate.

"These people are driven by the economic opportunity in the U.S. and the economic problems Mexico has had since its production sectors began competing with China," Schwer said.