Figure 3 Hispanics Hold More Negative View of Personal Finances Question: How would you rate your own personal financial. situation? (96)
Latinos make up 15 percent of the total U.S. population, and in many respects their downbeat assessment of the nation’s economy is similar to that of the general population. According to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press (December 2008), almost six-in-ten (59%) say the U.S. economy is in poor condition, a belief held by 63% of Latinos. And similar shares of the general U.S. population and Latinos say that jobs are difficult to find where they live—73% versus 78%.
However, Latinos hold a more negative view of their own current personal financial situation than does the population as a whole. More than three-in-four (75%) Latinos, and 84% of foreign-born Latinos, say their current personal finances are in either fair or poor shape, while 61% of the general U.S. population says that. But Latinos are more optimistic than others about the future: 67% expect that their financial circumstances will improve over the next year; just 56% of the general population feels the same way.
Figure 3  | Hispanics Hold More Negative View of Personal Finances  | than the General Popula tion  | Question: How would you rate your own personal financial. situation? (96)  | Excellent  | Good  | Only fair  | Poor  | All Hispanics  | 19  | 46  | 30  | General US  | 40  | 21  | population  | Note: Responses of Don't know and "Refused not shown.  | Source: Responses Pew Hispanic Center National Survey of Latinos 2008, Economics  | and Politics: Pew Research Center for the People &the Press, Political and  | Economic Survey, December 2008 