"Economic downturns tend to reduce immigration flows . . . but we can't point to a cause and effect," he said.
Latinos make up 14.2% of the U.S. labor force, and just over half of working-age Latinos are immigrants, the report said. Although Pew researchers were not able to identify the legal status of those immigrant workers, they estimated that illegal immigrants accounted for 5% of the U.S. labor force.
Most illegal immigrants are from Latin America, and Mexicans account for about 55% of the total, the report said.
Amid a downturn in the construction sector, the report found that 90% of Latino job losses in construction were experienced by immigrants.
And although wages for Latinos fell in all sectors, Latino construction workers experienced the sharpest drop, earning less now than they did in the first quarter of 2006.
Latino women left the labor force in greater proportion and were much more likely to be unemployed than Latino men, the Pew report said. Kochhar said Latino women historically had far lower levels of participation in the workforce than non-Latino women.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said their raids were prompting employers to think twice about hiring illegal immigrants.
"We believe that our enforcement efforts are having an impact," spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said.
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nicole.gaouette@latimes.com
