Report on Hispanics in York County: 50 percent unemployment

The Hispanic population in York County is growing quickly, but significant disparities create widespread problems.

(York) — The United Way of York County has released an assessment on the living, work and education standards of the county’s Hispanic and Latino community.

The Hispanic and Latinx population of the county reached 31,899, or 7.2 percent of the county population, in 2016. The majority of those people live in the city.

The report, prepared by The Arthur J. Glatfelter Institute for Public Policy at the York College of Pennsylvania, offers several key findings, including:

• Fifty percent of the people surveyed are unemployed. 
• More than 80 percent of those surveyed earn less than $35,000 a year. 
• Almost 70 percent have a high school diploma or equivalent. For comparison, 88.5 percent of the overall York County population such degrees.
• About a third live in areas where they would be afraid to sit outside at night.
• About half of those surveyed fear someone they love will be detained or deported.

The report also recommends that the community:

• Identify pressing needs in the Hispanic/Latinx community;
• Identify current assets;
• Assess gaps in services to identify needs;
• Identify current barriers to accessing services;
• Identify issues that could complicate the delivery of government services for the Hispanic/Latinx community;
• Determine best models for service delivery to the Hispanic/Latinx community; and,
• Make recommendations for next steps.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The York Daily Record.