Hispanics in the United States: A Demographic, Social, and Economic History, 1980–2005

In 1980 the U.S. government began to systematically collect data on Hispanics. By 2005 the Latino population of the United States had become the nation's largest minority and is projected to comprise about one-third of the total U.S. population in 2050. Utilizing census data and other statistical source materials, this book examines the transformations in the demographic, social, and economic structures of Latino-Americans in the United States between 1980 and 2005. Unlike most other studies, this book presents data on transformations over time, rather than a static portrait of specific topics at particular moments. Latino-Americans are examined over this twenty-five year period in terms of their demographic structures, changing patterns of wealth and poverty, educational attainment, citizenship and voter participation, occupational structures, employment, and unemployment. The result is a detailed socioeconomic portrait by region and over time that indicates the basic patterns that have lead to the formation of a complex national minority group that has become central to U.S. society.

Laird W. Bergad is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Latin American and Puerto Rican Studies at Lehman College and the Ph.D. Program in History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Herbert S. Klein is the author of some 20 books and 155 articles in several languages on Latin America and on comparative themes in social and economic history.