Immigrant Latino Unemployment and tools to get out of the statistics

What can we - Latinos - do to take full responsibility of our own 'statistics' in terms of the job we are looking for and ways to get it.
There are many reasons to play smarter at these particular times, to do what makes sense in terms of building your professional brand, networking actively, using simultaneous job / business sources and keeping on top of the market trends and data.
One of the alternatives to play smart is to do what is called Research Informational Interviews which consist in the approach you'll make as a candidate to have a productive talk to a successful professional in the field of your interest regarding your own transition and ways to improve your own productivity as per that matter.
That way you can have a 'sense-check' on your own professional branding perception, get insiders info regarding a particular company or industry and upgrade your job marketing skills more efficiently. You shouldn't take more than 30 minutes of somebody's agenda to do this unless it is somebody you have a closer relationship with. Still, I wouldn't ever take more than 1 hour of anybody's time to have a conversation like this.
You can split the info you want to get on:
1. The Person: What are the tips that have made him/her successful on his/her field e.g. education, training, personal characteristics, etc. What are the lessons learned you could get from his/her track record and any tips for you.
2. The Business: Is it expanding or contracting? Are there any 'hot' skills in demand?
3. Feedback and Potential Referrals: Share in a very professional, tangible results oriented way your background and ask him/her to take a look at your resume, question on reference to potential strengths or areas you may consider to market more (or less) aggressively. Once you get good constructive impact and you consider there has been a positive conversation ask kindly whether he/she could refer you to potential employers on the field. e.g. Would you refer me to other people in the field who may have some useful info for my job market exploration process? Could I use your name as a referral to contact them? Do you know any organization that could be interested on my set of skills?
4. Be grateful, keep on touch but do not overwhelm your contacts with more info than they need to know. It is good to keep a presence among potential employers but do not ever push too much as any perceived despair could potentially leave you alone on your search.

Remember to be S-M-A-R-T in achieving your goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely).

Keep on top of relevant employment/unemployment data. Do not hide your head like an ostrich but keep it up looking for clues.

See below the link for the Immigration Latino Unemployment report published recently by the Pew Research Org and a brief summary of it.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1120/immigrant-latino-unemployment-rises

“Unemployment and Job LossesChanges in unemployment during the recession reveal a rapidly worsening situation for foreign-born Hispanics, native-born Hispanics and blacks in the labor market. The unemployment rates for these groups increased by similar amounts from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008. However, the number of unemployed persons increased at a much faster rate for foreign-born Hispanics.The unemployment rate for foreign-born Hispanics increased from 5.1% to 8.0%. The 2.9-percentage-point rise was greater than the 2.0-percentage-point increase in the overall economy as the unemployment rate for all persons rose from 4.6% to 6.6%.3 The unemployment rate for native-born Hispanics increased from 6.7% to 9.5%, and the rate for blacks went up from 8.6% to 11.5%. The increases in the unemployment rates for these groups were similar to the increase for foreign-born Hispanics. The number of unemployed persons in the U.S. economy rose by 3.1 million from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008, an increase of 44.3%. The percentage increase in the number unemployed was highest among foreign-born Latinos-58.3%, or 348,000 persons. Unemployment among native-born Latinos increased by 49.1% (329,000 persons) and among blacks by 34.4% (502,000 persons). Job losses are now widespread across the economy, but the construction sector remains the leading source of job loss for both Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Hispanics lost 343,000 jobs in this industry, and non-Hispanics lost 844,000 jobs. "

Having said that, look at the contrast between foreign-born and native-born Hispanics data regarding employment.

"Outcomes for foreign-born Hispanics were the worst by both key indicators of employment -- the percentage change in the number employed and the change in the employment rate.Employment fell for all groups except native-born Hispanics.
(...)"The percentage drop in employment was highest for foreign-born Hispanics. Their number employed fell 2.6%, in contrast with a loss of 1.7% for whites, 2.0% for blacks and 1.6% for Asians. "The employment rate for all groups, including native-born Hispanics, fell from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008. The decrease was greatest for foreign-born Hispanics -- 2.8 percentage points. The employment rate for white, black and Asian workers fell 1.3, 2.0 and 1.5 percentage points respectively. "

A Final Thought: El hombre bien preparado para la lucha ya ha conseguido medio triunfo.Miguel de Cervantes