Job Search Info: Hispanic vs. Latino

Apr 18, 2013
2:30 PM

I have been searching for a job of late. Since my speciality is Hispanic/Latino news I wondered what differences there were between Hispanic vs Latino. I wondered if I could find out how those terms impacted my job search. So I did a little digging and this is what I found.

From SimplyHired.com, I found a job trend tool that produced the following graph for data from October 1st, 2011 to October 1st, 2012. Interestingly, since October 2011, the following has occurred: “Hispanic jobs” decreased 20% and “Latino jobs” increased 16%. However, the graph clearly illustrates that the percentage of Hispanic jobs is still quite a bit larger than Latino jobs.

What makes this interesting is that when you compare the above graph to Google search trends for the terms “Hispanic Job” vs “Latino Job” you see “Latino Job” rising above “Hispanic job” in 2010.

This also correlates with the major upswing in the use of Latino vs Hispanic in search terms as seen in this graph.

Comparing the SimplyHired and Google graphs, it is easy to see that while employers are still using Hispanic more often than Latino in job postings, the number of potential job seeker’s using the search term Latino is rising. To further illustrate the the decline of the use of Hispanic in the professional world take a look at the trend in Hispanic Employment vs Latino Employment.

In fact, the only search terms I could find where Hispanic is still used more than Latino is when it comes to marketing. However, even here you can see a steep decline in the use of this term. (Please note that I only compared about 7 relevant terms.)

My only conclusion is that I need to use both terms while searching for jobs and that I should include both in my resume as well. Ignoring one because of the way you personally feel about it will restrict the amount of opportunities you find.

If you are interested in learning more about Hispanic/Latino employment trends I would recommend this Department of Labor’s Report or take a look at Google Images.