Survey: Hispanic immigrants tighten belts

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Immigrants have been sending less money to their families in Latin America since Sept. 11 due to the economic downturn in the United States that accelerated following the terrorist attacks, a survey released Monday concluded.

The Inter-American Development Bank announced that 56 percent of the 1,000 Latin American-born adults surveyed in late November and early December said they were sending less money home due to a reduction in their own incomes.

While most of the immigrants said that they were still employed, 7 percent had been laid off and about 25 percent said their incomes had fallen since Sept. 11 due to reductions in hours and for other reasons.

"The results of the survey confirm the anecdotal reports about the huge impact the economic downturn has had on the Hispanic community in the United States, especially in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks," said Donald F. Terry, manager of the IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund. "If these trends persist, Latin America could lose billions of dollars in remittances."

Immigrants working in the United States, both legally and illegally, have become an important source of cash for the families they left behind in Mexico and other Latin American nations. Much of the money is sent to impoverished rural areas of Mexico and Central America where it is used for everyday living expenses and for purchases of tangible consumer goods such as washing machines and automobiles.

The bank estimated that immigrants working abroad sent some $20 billion last year to Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Los Angeles Times reported Monday that Mexico alone had -- prior to Sept. 11 -- taken in some $9 billion this year, a 35 percent increase over 2000; since the attacks, the figures are not yet in, although it is estimated that they have dropped considerably.

"In half of these countries, such remittances represent over 10 percent of GDP," the IDB said.

The Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon rocked the U.S. travel and hotel industry and appears to have also spilled over into the retail and service sector, making immigrants who work in service sector jobs particularly vulnerable.

To further aggravate the situation, large numbers of Mexican immigrants were expected to skip their annual gift-bearing Christmas trips back home out of fear they will not be able to get back into the United States due to increased security and necessary paperwork along the border.

The downturn in remittances is not expected to be long-lasting, however the IDB said that in the meantime Latin American and Caribbean nations would be well advised to make changes in their banking systems so that wire transfers of money from the United States will be more available and less expensive for lower-income families.

"These capital flows should pick up next year as the U.S. economy recovers, as is widely expected," said Terry. "Looking past the short-term, we should continue to try to find ways to reduce the cost of remittances to make sure that a larger portion of these monies reach the pockets of their intended beneficiaries."