Census data shows high birth rates fuel Latino growth

Census data shows high birth rates fuel Latino growth
By Darnell Little and Mary Ann Fergus
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
September 12, 2007

Lourdes and Sacramento Delgado, both natives of Mexico, met and married in Elgin where they started a family that is larger than the American norm but considered small in their homeland.

The Delgados gave birth to four children, now ages 9 to 14, in hospitals where bilingual health-care providers took care of their needs. The children attend Elgin-based Unit School District 46, where two are in bilingual programs and two have moved to English-only classes.

This burgeoning family is symbolic of a rising demographic trend. According to information released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, the continuing growth of the Latino community in the Chicago area has more to do with high birth rates than with immigration.

In Cook County, 74 of every 1,000 Latino women ages 15 to 50 gave birth in the previous year, according to the census estimates for 2006. That compares with a rate of 57 for black women and 41 for white women. Latino births also outpaced those of whites and blacks in several of the region's outlying counties.

Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at Loyola University, estimates that 70 percent of the Latino growth in the area is from natural increase, not immigration. In addition to high birth rates, U.S. Latinos have a lower death rate because their median age is lower than other major racial and ethnic groups.

Nationally, Johnson calculates, there are seven Latino births for every death, compared with 1.3 white births for every death.

"Despite all the discussion about immigration, most of the Hispanic growth in the United States, and certainly in the Chicago area, is coming from natural increase," Johnson said. "So even if the borders were to be closed tomorrow, there's so much momentum in the large number of young Hispanics in America now that the Hispanic population will continue to grow at a fairly rapid rate."

The new census data come from the annual American Community Survey, a program that will replace the extensive long-form questionnaire that is part of the decennial U.S. census.

The data also show that incomes across the area have fallen significantly since 1999, reflecting the Midwest's struggle to share in the economic growth seen in other parts of the country. The income gaps between blacks and whites and between Latinos and whites have grown.

Latinos are the largest minority group in the six-county Chicago area. In Cook County, Latinos made up 22.7 percent of the population in 2006, up from 19.9 percent in 2000. In DuPage, Latinos grew to nearly 12 percent in 2006 from 9 percent, and they are 18.7 percent in Lake County, up from 14.4 percent.

The rapid growth of the Latino population in so many suburban counties will have many policy implications for these communities, particularly in education, said Scott Watkins, an economist with the Anderson Economic Group.

"As this natural growth continues and you have more Hispanic children entering the K-12 public school system, that puts more demand on the system in terms of teaching either in a foreign language or teaching remedial English classes at an entry level," Watkins said.

Demand for children's health care can be expected to rise, as well as the need for bilingual workers providing services such as housing and food assistance.

It's in these areas that many suburbs are falling short, said Amy Rynell, director of policy and research at the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance.

"The human services structure in the suburbs is very different than in the city," Rynell said. "It's very spread out and there's not as much service. There's also a tremendous amount of confusion on behalf of both Latinos seeking services as well as the providers themselves around how immigration policy impacts their ability to help or seek service. So there's a lot of fear on both sides in terms of getting what someone needs or providing what someone needs."

Elgin District 46 has been hiring more bilingual teachers to instruct children. This year the district added Spanish literacy and general education classes to the English-as-a-second-language and bilingual computer classes offered at night to families.

"You need to have a whole spectrum of services," said Wilma Valero, who directs the district's programs for English-language learners.

At St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, a bilingual social worker position recently was created to help Latino families deal with long-term needs both within the hospital and the community after complicated births that required acute care.

"The more people who are fluent speakers and educated in the health field, the more able we're going to be able to reach this ever-growing population," said Melanie Furlan, vice president of advancement for Alexian Brothers Hospital Network.

Bilingual specialists in diabetes, obesity, asthma and other conditions common among Latinos are also increasing in the Alexian system. A pediatric pulmonologist dedicated a weekly day to treat Spanish-speaking children with asthma and other lung problems.

Income trends reported in the new census data reflect the continuing loss of manufacturing jobs in the Midwest, said Rebecca Blank, an economist at the University of Michigan.

After adjusting for inflation, median household income for Cook County fell nearly $5,000 from 1999 to $50,691 in 2006. DuPage County fell more than $8,000 to $73,677 and Lake County dropped nearly $6,000 to $75,170.

"There's been very real aggregate economic growth, but it's disproportionately gone to people in certain industries," Blank said.

Blacks and Latinos, meanwhile, lost ground compared with white earners. In 2006, blacks in Cook County had a median household income that was 54 percent of whites' income, down from more than 60 percent in 1999. Cook County Latinos had an income that was 66.5 percent of whites' in 2006, down from 73 percent in 1999.

"Blacks and Latinos tend to disproportionately occupy lower income cohorts and hence they're likely bearing the brunt of this income inequality to a greater extent than the population as a whole," said Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corp.

----------

dlittle@tribune.com

mfergus@tribune.com