While Latinos were particularly hard hit by the recent recession, new evidence indicates that they are benefiting from modest improvements in the nation’s economy.

Latinos as a group account for just 15 percent of the nation’s workforce, but they have “racked up half the employment gains posted since the economy began adding jobs in early 2010,” according to Labor Department statistics cited by the Los Angeles Times.

The Labor Department figures show that of the 2.3 million jobs added to the economy last year, 1.4 million, or 60 percent, were filled by Latinos. The sectors where they gained a large share of jobs included hotels, food services, healthcare and manufacturing.

The statistics represent a glimmer of hope for a group that makes up only 16 percent of the nation’s population but suffered disproportionately from the economic downtown.

According to a recent report by Pew Hispanic Center, median household wealth, comprised of all assets minus all debt, plummeted by 66 percent for Latinos from 2005 to 2009, a time span which includes the housing market crash and the recession. By comparison, median household wealth among blacks dropped by 53 percent in the same time period, and 16 percent among whites.

The poverty rate among Hispanics increased by nearly six points between 2006 and 2010, from 20.6 percent to 26.6 percent, according to Pew. For whites, poverty rates jumped from 8.2 percent to 9.9 percent. For blacks, the rate swelled from 24.3 percent to 27.4 percent.

At 10.5 percent, the Latino unemployment rate in January 2012 was the lowest in three years,
according to the Labor Department. Nationally, the overall unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent as American employers added 243,000 jobs in January.

Read the full story at the Huffington Post