Center for Research on Latinos in a Global Society

Descriptive statistics of the 1990 Census Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) 5% file and published data is analyzed to examine income and poverty variables of Latinos in California and Orange County The study aims: 1) to describe the trends of income distribution, and the trends in the growth of poverty, for the general population and the Latino population in California and Orange County; 2) to assess the importance of immigration in the growing poverty of Latinos in Orange County; and 3) to disaggregate the "Hispanic" category so as to make comparisons among different Latino ethnic groups and thus qualify the conclusions one might draw from a total category of Latinos in the state and county. The analysis reveals the heterogeneity of the Latino population and the obfuscation inherent in a Hispanic aggregate category. More Latinos were living in or near poverty in 1989 than other ethnic groups but among Latinos those of Mexican and Central American descent were far worse-off than other Latino ethnic groups. Latinos of South American, Cuban, and Puerto Rican origin in Orange County were found to have socio-economic characteristics more similar to non-Hispanics that Latinos of either Mexican of Central American origin which more likely to suffer from poverty than other racial and ethnic groups. In addition, the analysis demonstrated the greater risk of poverty for women as compared to men and the foreign-born compared to the native born which are in part a result of class related variables such as educational attainment.