Despite the President’s and Republican Congress’s failure so far to deliver on their agenda, expectations of policy changes and big tax cuts for top earners and big business have pushed the U.S. stock market to highs now verging into bubble territory. The price-to-earnings ratio, or PE, provides a measure of investors’ expectations of future corporate profits. Stock valuations relative to corporate earnings in S&P 500 companies have never risen above 28 without a sharp and severe stock market correction lurking around the corner. Only three times in U.S. history has the PE risen above 28: (1) on the eve of the Great Depression, (2) on the eve of the Dot-Com bubble bursting, and most recently (3) when Donald Trump took office.

Latinos continue to be one of the fastest growing minority groups in the United States, and account for a combined $1.3 trillion in economic activity. Latinos are also more likely than the general population to become entrepreneurs. However, the unemployment rate for Latino workers stands at 5.1 percent compared to 3.7 percent for white workers.

This fact sheet provides a snapshot of the current economic state of the Latino community in the United States. It includes the latest statistics on the economic well-being for the nation’s Latino community, including population, employment, and earnings data, among other key indicators. Together, these measures help paint a portrait of Latinos and their economic prospects for the future.

Joint Economic Committee Democratic staff are comparing job growth each month to the average in the late 1990s (a boom time in the economy), but also to the best individual month each series has ever seen.