Are Hispanics Making Economic Progress?

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Recent income gains for Hispanic households have been strong

Between 2014 and 2015, real median household income among all Americans rose $2,800, or 5.2 percent, to $56,500. While household income rose across all racial and ethnic groups, Hispanic Americans saw the largest gains: income rose 6.1 percent for Hispanic households, 4.1 percent for African American households, 3.7 percent for Asian households, and 4.4 percent for non‐Hispanic White households. This increase brought the median income of Hispanic households in 2015 to $45,150, an increase of 7.4 percent in real terms from 2009. While these income gains represent substantial progress, more work remains to continue raising incomes for Hispanic American families, which remain lower than median incomes for the United States as a whole.

The poverty rate for Hispanic households has fallen

The poverty rate for Hispanics was 21.4 percent in 2015, down 3.9 percentage points from 2009. The gap between the poverty rate for Hispanics and non‐Hispanic Whites closed by 3.6 percentage points over this period. From 2014 to 2015, the poverty rate fell for all racial and ethnic groups. The largest declines over this period were for Hispanics and African Americans, which decreased by 2.2 percentage points and 2.1 percentage points, respectively. For both groups, this was the largest one‐ year decrease since 1999.

Despite these meaningful gains, the poverty rate among Hispanic families remains unacceptably high. Actions taken by the Administration, such as expanding overtime and extending minimum wage protections to home health‐care workers, represent important steps for helping workers and families. Further steps that the President has advocated such as raising the minimum wage, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for households without dependent children, and ensuring that all young children can access high‐quality child care and pre‐K would help build on this progress. 

Health Insurance, Health Care, and Health Outcomes

Health insurance coverage has expanded dramatically for Hispanic families

The major coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act have reduced the uninsured rate among Hispanics ages 18–64 by 11.3 percentage points, corresponding to 4 million Hispanics gaining insurance coverage. While all racial and ethnic groups have seen their uninsured rates decline under the Affordable Care Act, the gains for Hispanic Americans have been particularly large, as illustrated in Figure 4.

The coverage gains under the Affordable Care Act would have been considerably larger had all States opted to take advantage of the generous support the law provides to States that elect to expand their Medicaid programs. Researchers at the Urban Institute estimate that if the 19 States that have not yet expanded their Medicaid programs did so in 2017, at least 4 million people would gain health insurance coverage. Notably, many of the States that have not yet expanded their Medicaid programs, including Florida and Texas, have large Hispanic populations, and the Urban Institute 

researchers estimate that approximately 1 million Hispanics would gain coverage in 2017 if all remaining States took up the Medicaid expansion.

Under the ACA, Americans now enjoy improvements in private insurance coverage, including bans on discrimination based on pre‐existing conditions and on lifetime or annual limits on care, a limit on annual out‐of‐ pocket spending, and access to recommended preventative services without cost‐sharing. For example, 17 million Hispanics with private insurance now have access to expanded preventive services, including immunizations and certain cancer screenings with no co‐ pay or deductible. And the ACA allows young adults to stay on their parents’ health care plan until age 26. 

Key health outcomes have also improved for Hispanic Americans

Life expectancy continues to rise among Hispanics, up 1.5 years over the last decade. Teen pregnancy among Hispanic women is falling: the teen birth rate decreased 51 percent among Hispanic teens between 2006 and 2014, as the national teen birth rate fell to an all‐time low.

Education

Early childhood programs serve many Hispanic families

President Obama has expanded Early Head Start over the course of his time in office. The number of Hispanic infants and toddlers in Early Head Start programs has almost doubled since 2008. The President has also invested an additional $4 billion in Head Start programs to provide early learning opportunities for more children across the country. Thirty‐eight percent of Head Start participants are Hispanic (while representing 17.8 percent of general population). And more than 2.6 million Hispanic children—close to half of Hispanics under the age of five—have been served by Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grants. The Administration has also supported investments in programs for our country’s youngest dual language learners, including many Hispanic children. 

Next- High school graduation rates for Hispanic youth have risen substantially