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This paper examines demographic and socioeconomic data on the Latino population, focusing on characteristics of Latino youth. The U.S. Hispanic population is growing rapidly, fueled by both immigration and high fertility rates. Although census figures indicate that about 64 percent of Hispanics are of Mexican origin, the Latino population is very diverse in terms of self-identified ethnicity. Younger age groups of Latinos are growing at a disproportionately faster rate than those of other racial groups. Today's Latino youth are the largest minority youth group in the United States and may make up the majority of the workforce when they reach middle age. Although Latinos do not comprise a single, monolithic community, issues that bring them together include maintenance of culture and the Spanish language, family values, immigrant rights, poverty, and work ethic. While Latino males have high labor force participation, their low wages and seasonal employment leave them in poverty. Their poverty is persistent and increasing, characterized by low levels of education and low participation in public assistance programs. Latino youth have disproportionately low rates of high school graduation and college attendance. Opponents of bilingual education, culturally relevant education, and affirmative action propose genetic or cultural deficits as the cause, ignoring links to inequitable school resources, low teacher expectations, and tracking systems. Needs for research on Latino youth are outlined. Eighteen data tables present demographic, poverty, employment, dropout, enrollment, and educational attainment data. (Contains 68 references and suggested readings.) (SV)

In rural America, Latinos are the fastest growing population, increasing by 30 percent between 1980 and 1990. Rural Latinos are a large and growing share of the labor hired on farms, but earn only 60 cents for each dollar earned by nonfarm hired workers. This trend is largely due to the restructuring of agriculture in general, and the meatpacking industry in particular, in which production is becoming increasingly decentralized, contracted out to peripheral firms, and operated by fewer nonunionized assembly processes of workers. Meatpacking creates unusually high population mobility and a parallel high turnover in school population. Educational issues include the increased need for bilingual and ESL instructors, who are difficult to attract to rural places; and the fact that rural Latino teenagers have difficulty gaining English skills and social confidence, resulting in truancy, pregnancy, dropping out, and gang development. Communities with proportionately higher concentrations of Latinos tend to have greater poverty, lower median incomes, and lower educational attainment, and places with rapid labor turnover often confront sudden demands for housing, education, health care, and social services. On the other hand, Latinos are giving rural towns a population revival in the face of White flight, expanding the tax base, revitalizing local schools, and infusing cultural diversity. Poorer conditions in rural communities result not so much from the increase in Latino populations as from the exodus of better-educated, better-paid Whites. Policies with regard to Latinos have been reactive rather than proactive, with inconsistent results. This paper also discusses Latino farms and farmers, self-employment and entrepreneurship among rural Latinos, Latino farmworkers, and issues of rural industrialization and restructuring. (Contains 30 pertinent readings.) (TD)

This guide provides background information on rural Latinos and includes brief profiles of 98 social scientists, researchers, and educators that focus their work on the rural Latino population. The first section addresses the need to study the rural Latino population and discusses census data, distinctions between rural and urban Mexican Americans, characteristics of farms owned and operated by Latinos, issues of Latino population growth and concentration in rural areas, and employment and community development issues. This section also includes facts on Latino poverty, Mexican immigration, population distribution, age, educational attainment, and language. The second section includes contact information and descriptions of the past and current work of the 98 specialists, listed alphabetically. Areas of specialty include agriculture and natural resources, the arts, demography, development, national and regional U.S. studies, economics, education, geography, health and medicine, history, labor, Latin America, migration and immigration, outreach, policy and politics, poverty, research methods, science and technology, social sciences, sociology, and rural groups other than Latinos. The third section describes 44 organizations that focus on rural and Latino issues. The fourth section lists relevant publications and other work produced by 68 of the Rural Latino Resource specialists. The last section lists publications about agriculture, farm labor, immigration, migrant education and health services, and rural poverty by authors affiliated with the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University (Lansing). (LP)

This statistical brief provides an overview of Latino history in Nebraska and includes data tables that compare Latinos with other population groups in Nebraska and with Latinos in other parts of the Midwest. The first Europeans in the Midwest were Spanish, but they later abandoned their Midwest colonies, and today the Latinos in Nebraska are primarily of Mexican origin. The Mexican Revolution stimulated the flow of Mexicans to Nebraska in the early 1900s, where they found work in railroads, packing industries, and farming. Since the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Latino population has grown to 2.3 percent of Nebraska's population, and since 1980 the Latino population has increased 32 percent, compared to an 18 percent increase for African Americans, and a 1 percent decrease for Whites. More Nebraska Latinos have 8 or less years of schooling than Whites or Blacks. Latinos leave school earlier than do Whites or Blacks; many leave to contribute to family income. Male and female Hispanics have higher labor force participation than Whites or Blacks, and have unemployment rates higher than Whites but lower than Blacks. Latinos tend to hold lower-paying jobs, partly due to educational attainment, but also to limited English fluency, bias, and discrimination. Median household income for Nebraska Hispanics is below the Midwest Hispanic income, and has deteriorated over the last 10 years. Hispanic poor families have increased between 1980 and 1990, while White poor families have decreased. (Contains 12 references.) (TD)

The relationships among community characteristics and community well-being were examined for all 366 rural California communities with a population of 1,000-2,000. High proportions of Latinos and new immigrants in a community population were positively related to unemployment, percent children, and employment in agriculture, and negatively related to per capita income and educational attainment. However, the data suggest that the problems and poverty of communities with high Latino concentrations resulted from more than just recent immigration. The percentage of college graduates in the community was the strongest predictor of per capita income, while percentage of high school graduates was the strongest predictor of poverty rate, followed by unemployment and greater employment in agriculture. Eight of the 366 communities are compared with each other and the state in terms of income, poverty, education (high school and college graduates), occupational distribution, population growth (overall and for Latinos), immigration patterns, and age distribution (percent children and elderly). Appendices contain profiles of the 8 communities and data on all 366 (population size, percent Latino, percent high school graduates, percent college graduates, per capita income, and poverty rate). (TD)

In U.S. coverage of leadership in science and engineering (S&E), Latinos are generally dismissed from consideration. The pipeline metaphor tends to ignore advances made by Latinos in completing doctoral degrees in S&E. New data suggest a better metaphor, the pyramid of higher education, for understanding the progress of Latinos in S&E. Questions addressed include, what fields are pursued? What is the citizenship of Latino doctorates? What are the baccalaureate origins of Latina/o doctorates? What roles do community colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions play in serving Latinas/os? (Contains 18 tables and 16 figures.) [Appended to this document are Appendix A, which provides definitions of "science" and "engineering;" and Appendix B, which describes the Carnegie Classification system for postsecondary institutions.]

Using survey responses and catalogue descriptions from 38 programs, the paper examines the current status of Chicano studies programs in four-year colleges/universities in the Southwest. Findings indicate many programs evolved from the civil rights legislation of the 1960s to address ethnic minority concerns and to offer curriculum in the humanities and social sciences but currently serve as a means for fulfilling Affirmative Action requirements and developing a community of Chicano scholars. Identified as problems affecting Chicano studies programs are low Chicano student enrollment, relatively poor student retention and completion of college degrees, paucity of Chicano faculty, and a negative environment for Affirmative Action. Most problems identified by Chicano respondents appear to revolve around the perception of little support for Affirmative Action. Most Chicano studies programs need and want more Chicano faculty and students on their campuses. With more faculty present, the possibility of attracting (increasing enrollment) and serving (increasing retention) more Chicano students improves. Key components of an ideal program, as identified by the survey, include, in order of importance, better campus Affirmative Action, more trained (Ph.D.) Chicano scholars, greater funding, more "activists" (politically involved Chicano students), good "educational" services, a positive public image, and strong community ties. A two-page list of references concludes the document. (NEC)

This study examines the characteristics and needs of Michigan's migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The study was based on census data, state agency records, and a statewide survey of service providers. Results indicate that neither mechanization nor other structural changes in Michigan's agricultural economy have diminished the industry's dependence on seasonal labor, which contributes significantly to the $15.5 billion generated annually by Michigan agriculture. In addition, the short-term influx of migrant workers has resulted in increased local spending and the creation of employment opportunities for service workers in programs developed for this population. Michigan's migrant farm labor force currently includes between 40,000 and 48,000 workers and their families, most of Mexican origin. The average workers' salary of $4.35 per hour (1987) has required the creation of a reliable system of social supports including child care, job training, legal services, and health care. Fifty-three of the 84 surveyed service providers provide services specifically for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. According to these service providers, the four major problem areas for migrant farmworkers and their families are housing, health, education, and employment. In addition, service providers cited several problems hindering their ability to deliver services, including inaccessibility of services, lack of funding, language and cultural differences, shortages of staff, and insensitivity of providers to farmworkers and their needs. Service providers' recommendations for improving service delivery to migrant and seasonal farmworkers are outlined. Contains 100 references, data tables, figures, and the survey questionnaire. (LP)

A recent report from Rand, a think tank in California, titled "The Trend in Inequality among Families, Individuals, and Workers in the United States" by Lynn A. Karoly confirms that the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening and that the middle class in the United States is shrinking. Latinos have been particularly hard hit. There has been a precipitous drop in labor income for men on the low end of the income scale, with an income loss for Latino men as much as 22 percent at the low end. In terms of median income, only Latino men experienced a real decline between 1970 and 1987; White males held their own and African American males showed modest growth. Median family income increased for all groups, but it grew by only 8.6 percent for Latino families, in contrast with a 24.8 percent increase for White families. However, Latino women were the only group of low-income women to show improvement relative to the median in each 5-year period since 1970. The most ominous statistic is the drop in the real median value of business holdings owned by nonWhites and Latinos. Other studies support the contention that the economic pie is divided more unequally than it was in 1980, with the share held by the middle class shrinking. (Contains 6 references.) (SLD)