Latino Talent: Effective Strategies to Recruit, Retain and Develop Hispanic Professionals

CHAPTER 2

LATINO DEMOGRAPHICS AND TERMINOLOGY

Along with understanding the business case for attracting and retaining top Latino talent, organizations must become familiar with key demographic statistics and terms relating to the U.S. Latino population. Improving the level of understanding of the diverse Latino population and chronicling Latinos' growing impact on the nation better prepares organizations and practitioners to develop more inclusive workplace strategies. Organizations such as the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, DC, and the U.S. Census Bureau play an important role in helping organizations improve their understanding of the U.S. Latino population.

A plethora of research reports and statistics have appeared as the result of the rapidly increasing Latino population in the United States. While this is beneficial, it does make it increasingly difficult to identify which data are the most significant. Data exist on topics such as Latino marital status, home ownership levels, household income, and poverty levels. Human resource professionals, diversity practitioners, and business managers looking to better understand the role Latinos are playing in society and in the American workplace should become familiar with the 15 demographic statistics discussed in this chapter. Before addressing the demographic statistics, we'll define some of the key terms associated with the Latino community.

LATINO TERMS

Within the U.S. Latino community, ...