By Humberto Gutierrez

There have been several longitudinal studies on Mexican American mobility showing that although the monetary movement of Mexican Americans is not quite as rapid as that of whites, there is still a steady accumulation of wealth across generations.

This mobility is evidenced by the progress made by Mexican American professionals. As evidence of this success, we have witnessed the birth of several prominent professional associations. Most notable are:

• MAES, Latinos in Science and Engineering
• AMAE, Association of Mexican American Educators
• MABA, Mexican American Bar Association
• SACNAS, Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
• MAHPA, Mexican American Hispanic Physicians Association
• MABPA, Mexican American Business and Professional Association
• MALFA, Mexican American Latino Faculty Association
• MAVA, Mexican American Vintners Association

The latest American Community Survey shows year-to-year progress, or lack of it, on the survey’s annual census.

Prominent among this year is the continued progress of Mexican American college enrollment, which has jumped from 18.1% in 2013 to 18.7% in 2014. Unfortunately, graduate or professional degrees remain low with a small gain. For 2013, the graduate or professional degree was 11.2% and for 2014 this percentage climbed to 11.4% for the total population, while for 2013 it was 2.8% for Mexican Americans, and 2.9% for 2014.

Occupations in management, business, science, and arts showed a nice increase for Mexican Americans, from 16.7% to 17.4% while for the total population percentages went from 36.3% in 2013 to 36.9% in 2014. Mexican Americans still lag far behind the total population but there is a slight gain as compared to the total population.

For industry, numbers have gone up slightly for the total population but have remained stagnant for Mexican Americans.

References

• Census Bureau, Selected Population Profile in the United States: 2014
• United States S0201 and B05006. Selected Population Profile in the United States
• Population Groups: Mexican and Mexico (foreign-born)
• Data Set: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates for years 2012 and 2014
• Census Bureau, American Fact Finder, Selected Population Profile in the United States

By Humberto Gutierrez
Edited by Kristen House

College enrollment showed an increase of 1.4 percent from 2010 to 2012—a positive sign for Mexican Americans wanting to achieve higher academic and professional goals. Here is the data.

Educational attainment shows no change to the terrible numbers of 2.6 percent for the years 2010 and 2011 but there is hope in that 2012 showed a small gain to 2.9 percent.

For occupations, there was a .2 percent increment yearly, but still shows that in management, business, science, and art occupations, there is still a wide gap between the total population at 36.1 percent for the year 2012 and 16.6 percent for Mexican Americans.

For professional, scientific, and management and administrative and waste management services, there is a close correlation between the percentage represented by the total population and Mexican Americans.

Summary:

There is hope at the end of the tunnel. College and university enrollment has been trending higher for Mexican Americans. Unfortunately, the percentage of students with graduate degrees stayed the same for the years 2010 and 2011, but rose a small amount in 2012. Percentages showing students with BA and AA degrees trended higher—an encouraging sign. Occupations still showed a wide margin between the total population and Mexican Americans. The Mexican American population showed a small increase in professional, scientific, and management and administrative and waste management employment while the total population showed a small but steady increase in this area.

References:

• Census Bureau, Selected Population Profile in the United States: 2010 – 2012
• United States S0201. Selected population Profile in the United States
• Population Group: Mexican and Total Population
• Data Set: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates

By Humberto Gutierrez
Edited by Kristen House

The latest figures from the 2013 American Community Survey show progress in the wide gap between the total US professional population and Mexican Americans:

• 2012 college and/or graduate enrollment was 28.8% for the total population but only 18.2% for Mexican Americans.
• 2013 college and/or graduate enrollment was 28.3% for the total population, 18.1% for Mexican Americans, and 33.3% for foreign-born Mexican Americans.

College enrollment for the total population has decreased from the years 2012 to 2013 by 463,000 according the Census Bureau as stated in their Sept. 24, 2014 press release.

For Mexican Americans, there was also an enrollment decrease, but not as pronounced. Mexican American enrollment dropped by only .1% whereas for the total population, there was a .5% drop in college enrollment.

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Educational attainment for the general population has risen by .3% from the years 2012 to 2013. For Mexican Americans, it has decreased by .1%

Earned bachelor’s degrees for the general population have risen by .2% and a bit more for Mexican Americans at .3%

Associate degrees and/or some college has shown little change across the board.

Unfortunately, only 2.8% of Mexican Americans and 1.5% of foreign-born Mexican Americans completed a graduate or professional degree in 2013. This is an extremely low percentage because the total population completion of a graduate or professional degree in 2013 was 11.2%. Why are Mexicans and native-born Mexicans not obtaining their graduate degrees? While only 7.3% of Mexican Americans have B.A. degrees, many are settling for associate degrees—21.8% of Mexican Americans and 12.1% of foreign-born Mexican Americans are ending their academic careers upon achieving these two-year degrees, according to the 2013 data.

OCCUPATIONS

For the year 2013, the data for civilian employed population 16 years and over in management, business, science, and arts occupations is: 36.3% for the total population, 16.7% for Mexican Americans, and 9.2% for foreign-born Mexican Americans. Again, dismal figures.

Compared to the 2012 results, which were for the total population of 36.1% and for Mexican Americans 16.6%, there was a .2% increase for the total population and .1% for Mexican Americans. There was also a .2% increase for foreign-born Mexican Americans. Not much change, but some hope.

INDUSTRY

For professional, scientific, management and administration, and waste management services, 2013 employment for the total population was 11.1% and 10.2% for Mexican Americans, with foreign-born Mexican Americans at 11.5%. The 2012 results were for the total population 10.9% and 10.2% for Mexican Americans with the foreign-born Mexican Americans at 11.6%. No change for Mexican Americans and a .2% increase for the total population. However, a happy surprise: in 2013, foreign-born Mexican Americans topped all groups at 11.5% with a small decrease from 2012.

This represents a mixed picture for Mexican Americans and for foreign-born Mexican Americans in their quest for parity with the total population.

Solution for Retaining Minority Students in Higher Education

Scott Watson Swail’s 2003 report (1) on student retention programs in higher education states that a comprehensive student retention program should:

• rely on proven research
• suit the particular needs of the campus
• be institutionalized and become a regular part of campus service
• involve all campus departments and all campus personnel
• take into consideration the dynamics of the change process and provide extensive and appropriate retraining of staff
• be student centered
• operate in a cost-effective way, and not be tied to soft monies
• have the support of a comprehensive student monitoring system that will become the foundation of all institutional research on campus and support every department
• be sensitive to student needs and to diverse populations.

At least some of the above recommendations would go a long way to encourage many minority students to continue their higher education by obtaining a graduate or professional degree.

Berkley, Stanford, UCLA, and Caltech collaborate to boost minority Ph.D. students by recruiting underrepresented students in mathematical, physical and computer sciences, and in engineering.

UC Berkley put it best: “The four schools are creating a unique, cross-institutional community of underrepresented minority Ph.D. students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty members in the targeted fields; developing faculty training to better recognize and help these students thrive and advance; and conducting research that includes annual surveys of Ph.D. students about what factors impact their attitudes, experiences and preparation for the future.”(2)

References

• Census Bureau, Selected Population Profile in the United States: 2012 and 2013
• United States S0201 and B 05006. Selected population Profile in the United States
• Population groups: Mexican and Mexico (foreign-born)
• Data set: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates for years 2012 and 2013.
• Census Bureau, American Fact Finder, Selected population Profile in the Untied States.

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(1) Watson Scott Swail, Retaining Minority Students in Higher Education: A Framework for Success, George Washington University, 2003

(2) Gretchen Kell, “Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, Caltech unite to boost number of minority Ph.D. students, faculty,” UC Berkley News Center, February 13, 2014

By HUMBERTO (TITO) GUTIERREZ
Edited by Corrie Cripps

Mexican American women have been making slow but steady gains in business, science and art management jobs over the past few years, according to statistics from the 2011 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, Mexican American professionals continue to be underrepresented among the total U.S. professional population. This brief identifies areas of interest in the 2011 American Community Survey to Mexican American professionals.

Note: The statistics in this brief refer to the population who reported themselves as Mexican Americans on the American Community Survey.

According to the Survey, the total population of the U.S. is 311,591,919.

The Mexican American population is 33,557,922, roughly 10.8% of the total U.S. population.

College and/or Graduate School Enrollment

• 28.3% of the total population was enrolled in college or graduate school in 2010. In 2011, this number increased to 28.7%.
• 16.8% of the Mexican American population was enrolled in college or graduate school in 2010. In 2011, this number increased to 17.6%.

Charts: Total population enrolled in college and/or graduate school, Total U.S. population vs. Total Mexican American population

Educational Attainment:

• 17.7% of the total population earned bachelor degrees in 2010. In 2011, this number increased to 17.9%.
• 6.7% of the Mexican American population earned bachelor degrees in 2010. In 2011, this number increased to 6.9%.
• 10.4% of the total population earned graduate and professional degrees in 2010. In 2011, this number increased to 10.6%.
• 2.6% of the Mexican American population earned graduate and professional degrees in 2010, and this percentage remained the same in 2011.

Table: Educational attainment, bachelor degrees or higher

Note: In the following chart, each statistic stands for itself, i.e. do not add the male percentage to the female percentage to get a total.

Persons with a bachelor’s degree or higher are those who have received a bachelor’s degree from a college or university, or a master’s, professional, or doctorate degree.

OCCUPATIONS

Note: this data in this section includes only persons 25 years of age and older. The percentages are obtained by dividing the counts of graduates by the total number of persons 25 years old and over.

Occupations: Female employed civilians, age 25 and older:

• 39.4% of the total population of women in 2011 were employed in management, business, science, and arts occupations. Mexican American women represent 22.1% of the Mexican Americans employed in management, business, science, and arts occupations.
• Between 2007 and 2011, there has been a 1.7% increase (20.4% to 22.1%) in the number of Mexican American women employed in management professional and related occupations. In this area, the female general population figure has increased from 37.9% in 2007 to 39.5% in 2011, a 1.6% increase.

Occupations: Male employed civilians, age 25 and older:

• Between 2007 and 2011, there has been a 1.7% increase in the number of Mexican-American males in management and professional occupations.

Table: Occupations, Civilian employed population, age 25 and older

Industry: Civilian employed population 16 years and older:

• 10.6% of the general population was employed in the professional, scientific, management, administrative and waste management services in 2010. In 2011, this number only increased by .1% to 10.7%.
• 10.1% of Mexican Americans were employed in the professional, scientific, management, administrative and waste management services in 2010. In 2011, this percentage remained the same.

Public Administration:

• In 2010, the total population was 5.2% in public administration and 3.5% for Mexican Americans.
• In 2011, the total population was 5.1% in public administration and 3.4% for Mexican Americans. As with the Industry statistics, there was virtually no change from 2010 to 2011 in this area.

SUMMARY

Comparison of the 2010 and 2011 ratios of professionals in the general population and in the Mexican American population shows little change. In general, graduate and professional degrees among the total population are more than triple when compared with Mexican Americans who have earned graduate or professional degrees. On the bright side, there is at least one area where the ratio is almost equal; women have, again, gained ground in business, science and art management.

Reference Documents from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey

• Census Bureau, Selected Population Profile in the United States: 2011 (a PDF file)
• United States S0201. Selected Population Profile in the United States (search page)
  Population Group: Mexican
  Data Set: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates (for years 2007, 2010, and 2011)
• United States S0201. Selected Population Profile in the United States (search page)
  Population Group: Total Population
  Data Set: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates (for years 2007, 2010, and 2011)