Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

VALLEY ECONOMY: Hispanic impact noted

UNLV report cites effect on jobs, output, revenue

Gerardo Valenzuela works Monday at Durango Tire, a business at 920 N. Main St. that caters to Hispanics. The area's non-native Hispanic community contributes $15.5 billion in total output to valley's economy, according to a UNLV study. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

The non-native Hispanic community is an essential part of Southern Nevada's economy, creating more than 200,000 jobs, $15.5 billion in output and $829 million in state and local revenues, a UNLV report concludes.

"These are large numbers, but the results are certainly not surprising," said Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The report, "The Impact of the Non-Native Hispanic Community on the Economy of Clark County," was included in Schwer's recent Southern Nevada Midyear Economic Outlook presentation at UNLV.

The Hispanic population in Clark County was counted at 301,830 by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000, roughly 22 percent of the overall population. Some say those numbers are underestimated because they don't include illegal aliens living and working in Las Vegas.

"They work, they earn wages and purchase food, automobiles and homes. By doing so, they contribute significantly to the total economic activity in Clark County," Schwer said.

Many of them (80 percent) are recent immigrants, coming from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba and other Central and South America countries.

They typically speak little or no English and have less than a high school education. That has created a niche for businesses that cater specifically to Hispanics.

"They would prefer to speak Spanish," Schwer said. "Increasingly, businesses are letting them know if they speak Spanish."

Eduardo Hernandez, co-owner and manager of Durango Tires at 930 N. Main St., lets customers know his business is Hispanic-oriented with signage that reads "llantas" (tires) and "frenos" (brakes).

He said his business is split about 50-50 between Hispanics and non-Hispanics in the downtown area, and that he advertises on Spanish-speaking television stations such as Univision and Telemundo.

Hispanics hold a variety of jobs, from construction to education though their wages and household incomes are generally lower than the Clark County average, the CBER report showed.

For example, the Hispanic survey respondents made an annual average of $23,495 in construction and mining, compared with $40,618 for the Clark County average. Those in the hotel industry made $19,462, compared with the county average of $34,037.

The wage disparity may be attributed to several underlying factors, Schwer said.

First, immigrant Hispanics with poor English skills and limited education may be less productive than their more educated counterparts and thereby placed in lower positions within each industry.

Second, those working without legal documentation may be willing to accept lower wages than documented aliens. Finally, discrimination may play a part.

"Near the end of the survey, we queried respondents about whether they thought they have suffered discrimination or abuse because of their ethnicity," Schwer said.

"Thirty percent reported that they felt they have been abused or discriminated against because of their Hispanic ethnicity."

Schwer said Hispanic males with little education and little work experience are less likely to be unemployed than a county resident with similar backgrounds.

The 2000 Census put the number of non-native Hispanics over 18 years of age in Clark County at 156,000. Using that number, Schwer estimated annual wages at slightly more than $2.6 billion.

Feeding this and other data into his economic impact model, Schwer came up with his $15.5 billion total for economic output.

Hispanics have been known to send some of their earnings back to families in their homelands. Schwer said he and research associate Mary Riddel made the assumption that it was 15 percent of earnings.

"That would be a legitimate question," he said. "There would be a leakage from the spending flow that would reduce the impact, and we don't have that information. I suspect it varies from person to person."

Carlos Rodriguez, graphic designer for the Spanish-language publication El Tiempo Libre, said he sends $500 a month home to his wife and son in Colombia.

Some of the smaller, rural towns in Mexico are left nearly empty except for women and elderly men as all of the young men have come to the United States to work, said Jorge Betancourt, a Mexican native and art director of El Tiempo Libre.

He said they'll typically live as cheaply as possible here, send half of their paychecks home and go back after about five years.

Industries that are particularly sustained by Hispanics in the local economy are services ($5.3 billion), construction ($4.7 billion) and retail and wholesale trade ($3 billion).