Income Gap Remains

New data show the salary gap between men and women is no better the higher up you travel on the totem pole. Female CEOs, lawyers and doctors earn a little more than $100k a year — 25% less than their male counterparts, according to a new report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. In all types of work, women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns.

The gap gets even wider when you factor race into the equation. Not only to women make less than men, minority women make the least of every category.

For example, in 2004 the median income of Full-Time-Year-Round male workers was $40,798, compared to $31,223 for FTYR female workers.

Women have made many advances toward economic equality, but gaps in income between men and women persist and only multiply over time, as the following numbers from Jessica Arons’ Center for American Progress Action Fund report, “Lifetime Losses: The Career Wage Gap” show.

$434,000: The median amount that a full-time female worker loses in wages over a 40-year period as a direct result of the gender pay gap, also known as the “career wage gap.”

As women, on average live longer than men, this is money which should be going to into a retirement account, but that women will never see.

However, with minority women catching up on college degrees and opening businesses at a rate never before seen, the gap will hopefully start to close.

Changing Face of Hispanic Religion

In a huge cultural transformation that is changing the face of religion in the United States, millions of Hispanic Americans have left the Roman Catholic Church for evangelical Protestant denominations.

At around some 40 million, Hispanics in the United States now almost outnumber blacks, according to government figures released last month. Other studies claim that an estimated 9 million of them are evangelical. And of that number, close to 70 percent are Pentecostal.
Traditionally, the faith most associated with Hispanics is Catholic. This was true in 1970 when 90% of the Hispanics in the United States identified themselves as Catholic. However, a Barna Research survey of the religious faith of Hispanics in 2001 revealed that only 53% said they were Catholic.

At around some 40 million, Hispanics in the United States now almost outnumber blacks, according to government figures released last month. Other studies claim that an estimated 9 million of them are evangelical. And of that number, close to 70 percent are Pentecostal.
Traditionally, the faith most associated with Hispanics is Catholic. This was true in 1970 when 90% of the Hispanics in the United States identified themselves as Catholic. However, a Barna Research survey of the religious faith of Hispanics in 2001 revealed that only 53% said they were Catholic.

These statistics are especially poignant in Tucson, where Hispanics equal more than one-third of the population according to the 2000 Census.

Below is a map of the Protestant Christian Churches in Tucson:


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Dollar Store Mania

On the corner of Grant and Euclid in Tucson, Arizona, three dollar stores compete with each other and the grocery store for business. In Tucson alone, there are over 150 dollar stores and more companies are moving here monthly.

Discount businesses, i.e. Dollar Stores and thrift stores suffer during sound economic times, when consumers have more money in their pockets -- or have more credit available to them. As a result, dollar stores end up losing customers to larger, more expensive stores that offer nationally recognized brands. However, when the economy tanks, thriftiness becomes more appealing and sensible. Dollar stores' coffers are replenished as consumers start searching for cheaper items.
In general, dollar stores keep prices low through cost-cutting measures. Dollar Tree, the only national chain that sells items for a dollar, cuts costs by selling items in smaller sizes and spreading out deliveries through the week. Other chains and independent stores have taken to selling some merchandise for one dollar and others, like national brands, for near-traditional retail prices. And some items, like big-ticket electronics, simply aren't found in dollar stores unless they've been liquidated as part of another company's stock. Once items like these are gone, they're gone, which can make shopping for these particular items at dollar stores a hit-or-miss proposition.

Census Reaches Out to Spanish-Speakers

Hoping to count every man, woman and child, including many whose first language is not English, in the country in its decennial tally the Census Bureau will mail out 120 million forms starting in March. The 2010 Census questionnaire will be available in six languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. For the first time, the government entity will mail out 13 million bilingual, English-Spanish forms as part of the census taking effort mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

In an effort to allay the fears and overcome the language barrier for Spanish speakers living in the United States, the Census Bureau recently announced 2010.census.gov/espanol/, a Spanish language section of the census website. The Spanish language pages are designed to inform “the more than 34 million Spanish-speaking people about the 2010 Census and to demonstrate to the Hispanic community that participation is easy, important and safe,".

In addition to the Spanish version of the 2010 website, the Census Bureau plans a one-page description and a user guide explaining how to answer the census questionnaire in 59 languages. While the 2000 Census paid advertising campaign was in 17 languages, the 2010 Census plans to include 28 languages in its advertising campaign.

Annual LULAC Conference Hits Pima West

Approximately 2,000 middle and high school students will attend the 21st annual Southern Arizona youth LULAC conference this Monday and Tuesday.

The League of United Latin American Citizens hosts the conference in partnership with Pima Community College and the Southern Arizona Institute of Leadership on Monday and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at PCC's West Campus, 2202 W. Anklam Road.

The conference featured workshops aimed at helping kids stay in school, a positive thinking concert urging kids not to do drugs and presentations from local businesses and colleges.

According to a Tucson Police Department representative, "These kids are our future, they are the ones who will be paying taxes and working in a couple years. We are here to encourage them to help protect our community."

Below is a video from one of Patsy Torres's Power of Positive thinking tour:

Immigrants see foreclosure on the American Dream

The idea of a home of one's own has long been glorified as the American dream for generations. Immigrants have long clamored for a piece of the proverbial pie, and contemporary foreigners from South and Latin America continue the history.

However, a study done by the Pew Hispanic Center found that while America is a cultural melting pot, foreclosure rates are not. According to multiple regression analysis of foreclosure rates by county the rates are actually strongly correlated with the size of the immigrant population in a county. The larger the share of immigrants in a county, the more foreclosures there are.

Foreclosure rates are also not color-blind. Foreign born Latinos account for a far greater share of foreclosures than any other immigrant group.

While there are many potential reasons for this, there is not one direct cause for this. Maybe immigrants are just riskier borrowers. Another possibility raised by the Pew Hispanic Center is that immigrants may have been attracted to the boomiest areas of the countries. The study said that housing booms, in particular, may be especially good at attracting immigrants because they have many low-skill.

Another potential reason cited by Lora Mwaniki-Lyman, a research economist for the Eller School of Business Management, is that immigrants may not be as well versed in legality, and can be easily mislead by the complex contracts. They are also not as able to find legal help, due to costs and language barriers.

Tucson Ethnic Markets Show Trends in Population

A table full of bright yellow turmeric and emerald green sprigs of dried mint adorn the back table of Jasmine's Market at the intersection of Campbell Avenue and Grant Road. A pyramid of twenty pound burlap sacks full of basmati rice grace the front of the store. Red, yellow, and green cans of hummos and fava beans sit on industrial metal shelves. The aroma of honey-soaked baklava wafts from the back room while paintings of Egyptian markets and the Nile decorate the wall behind the cash register.


Ethnic markets and groceries are a significant source of food in the United States. A study released by Iowa State University in 2005, found that Americans spends an average of nearly fifteen percent of grocery money in ethnic food markets.

“I think that a lot people come here to try something different,” said Sukanya Bhat, the owner of India Dunkaan, an Indian grocery store at 2754 N. Campbell Avenue, as she leaned on the counter above a large selection of dusty Indian movies. “They try something at an Indian restaurant and want to make it at home.”
The growth of ethic markets in Tucson shows the growing numbers of other ethnic groups settling in the area.
"When people come to a new country and start earning money, the businesses in the area have to cater to them," said Lora Mwaniki-Lyman from the Eller College of Business Management.
Amer Said from Jasmine's Market also attributes the flow of international students from the University of Arizona to the popularity of the ethnic markets. “We get a lot of students in here looking for food that they got in there native countries,” Said said on a warm Tuesday afternoon at his market. “I've had Lebanese kids in here homesick for baklava and labneh and they are so glad that we stock it.”