Statewide.

• Position: REGIONALREPORT

Number of Tar Heel Latinos doubled during last decade

During the economic boom of the 1990s, Hispanics flocked to North Carolina, drawn by the promise of jobs locals didn't want and encouraged by lax enforcement of immigration laws. Employers welcomed their willingness to work hard at low wages, and North Carolina's Latino population nearly quintupled during the decade, growing faster than any other state's. It continued to grow rapidly, more than doubling between 2000 and 2010, despite a financial meltdown that sent the unemployment rate into double digits and left many residents suddenly eager to find any kind of work. The state ranks 11th in number of Latinos but is in the middle of the pack in their percentage of the total population. That latter number is rising rapidly. The 2010 census showed 8.4% of North Carolinians are Hispanic, up from 1.2% in 1990. "A lot of job losses have been in high-tech or banking--a lot of the jobs that immigrants don't fill," says Pablo Escobar, a member of the board of Raleigh-based El Pueblo Inc., an advocacy group for North Carolina's Hispanic population. "There's still plenty of need for low-wage labor."

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Largest growth in Hispanic population 1990-2010 County 1990-2000 2000-2010 1990-2010 2010 share of pop Duplin 12.6% 5.5% 18.1% 20.6% Lee 9.8 6.6 16.4 18.3 Sampson 9.3 5.7 15.0 16.5 Greene 6.9 6.3 13.2 14.3 Durham 6.5 5.9 12.4 13.5 Smallest growth in population County 1990-2000 2000-2010 1990-2010 2010 share of pop Northampton 0.1% 0.7% 0.8% 1.4% Bertie 0.8 0.3 1.1 1.3 Scotland 0.3 0.9 1.2 2.1 Gates 0.6 0.6 1.2 1.4 Madison 0.9 0.6 1.5 2.0 WORKING CAPITAL WESTERN CHARLOTTE TRIAD TRIANGLE EASTERN Employed: 444,353 977,768 710,583 908,130 999,121 YTD change: (528) 6,523 4,270 9,965 19,412 Index: 91.6 102.3 93.9 111.6 104.3 Source: Employment Security Commission, March. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

COUNTY INDEX

1. Alamance

   2 Alexander

3. Alleghany

4. Anson

5. Ashe

6. Avery

7. Beaufort

8. Bertie

9. Bladen

10. Brunswick

11. Buncombe

12. Burke

13. Cabarrus

14. Caldwell

15. Camden

16. Carteret

17. Caswell

18. Catawba

19. Chatham

20. Cherokee

21. Chowan

22. Clay

23. Cleveland

24. Columbus

25. Craven

26. Cumberland

27. Currituck

28. Dare

29. Davidson

30. Davie

31. Duplin

32. Durham

33. Edgecombe

34. Forsyth

35. Franklin

36. Gaston

37. Gates

38. Graham

39. Granville

40. Greene

41. Guilford

42. Halifax

43. Harnett

44. Haywood

45. ...