OSKAR GARCIA / The Associated Press | Posted: Monday, October 30, 2006 6:00 pm
OMAHA — U.S. immigrants from Latin American countries are sending more money to their native countries than ever before — $45 billion in 2006 compared with $30 billion in 2004, according to an October study.
Most of that money is still coming from states such as California and Texas with large immigrant populations, but smaller states showed dramatic increases, according to the survey by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The amount and shift of the growth shows that Latinos are moving to fill jobs around the country, not just to pockets of cities with large immigrant populations, said project specialist Pedro De Vasconcelos.
“People needing jobs with difficulties finding them in Latin America are feeling that jobs are greatly needed in the U.S. as demand is always increasing,” De Vasconcelos said. “The U.S. economy needs these workers. Want it or not, like it or not, it’s a fact.”
Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. have a total estimated income of more than $500 billion, De Vasconcelos said.
Researchers interviewed about 2,500 legal and illegal immigrants for the study. They found that half found jobs within a month of moving to the U.S. — 38 percent were employed within two weeks — with an average salary of $900 per month for their first jobs, the study said.
The average Latino immigrant sends $300 once a month, about 10 percent of their income, to a family member in their native country, the study said.
The remaining 90 percent remains in the U.S., according to the study.
The demand for labor in the U.S. and remittances to Latin American countries have created complex problems for immigrants, said Lourdes Gouveia, a Latin American studies professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
“Receiving countries like the United States increasingly do not recognize their contribution but criminalize them,” Gouveia said. “On the other hand, their sending countries, Mexico, Colombia and so forth, now elevate them as heroes but do very little to really reverse the causes of migration.”
Remittances are consistently reaching at least 15 million households in Latin American countries, and used for food, health and education, among other costs, De Vasconcelos said.
Immigrants in Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina and Virginia will send more than $1 billion this year to Latin American countries, the study said.
The sharpest increases came from New Mexico and Louisiana. The study said Louisiana’s increase is mainly from Katrina reconstruction workers.
In Nebraska, Latino immigrants are expected to send $154 million to their native countries, up from $80 million, the study said. Several Midwest states nearly doubled the amount of remittances.
Jose Orosco, a 27-year-old single construction worker living in Omaha, has been sending money back to his parents in Jalisco, Mexico, since he came to the U.S. nine years ago.
“I send different amounts,” said Orosco, who estimates he sends his parents about $200 every two weeks. “They use it to buy food and all the stuff.”
Technology to send money has advanced and created more competition, forcing companies to lower fees and offer more services, De Vasconcelos said.
“They have a lot of companies and a lot of offers to send money to Mexico — most of the time they charge six to 10 dollars,” Orosco said. “There’s a lot of places here in Omaha to send money.”
In south Omaha, a neighborhood that has a relatively high concentration of Hispanic immigrants, there are at least six businesses on one street that wire transfer money to other countries, said John Barrientos, president of the South Omaha Business Association.