Latino-Americans have narrowed the gap on Internet use in comparison to other ethnic groups in recent years, with low-income immigrants playing a key role in the trend.
Recent data from a study by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that use of the Internet by adult Latino-Americans rose by 10 percentage points to 64%, between 2006 and 2008, the most recent data available. The rate of Internet use by European-Americans rose by four percentage points over the same period, with an increase of two percentage points among African-Americans.
The higher increases in the rate of Internet use among Latino-Americans stems in part from the ethnic group's long-standing position as the least likely to engage the medium. The 64% rate of use among adult Latino-Americans still trails European-Americans, who as a group notched a rate of 76% for adults. The recent gains among Latino-Americans did edge them past African-Americans, who as a group came in at 63%, according to the report, which did not measure Internet use among Asian-Americans.
The overall gain among Latino-Americans also came with the help of working class members of the ethnic group, according to the report, which found "particularly large increases" in Internet use among immigrants with less than a high school education and household annual incomes of less than $30,000.
Latino-Americans remain more likely to use the Internet outside of their homes, relying on locations such as Internet cafes, public libraries or other points of access, according to the report. A total of 81% of the Latino-Americans who use the Internet had access to the medium at home in 2008, up slightly from 79% in 2006. That number, taken into consideration along with the increase in the numbers of relatively low-income users, appears to indicate that monthly fees for Internet service remain a barrier for some Latino-Americans when it comes to gaining access at home.
European-Americans and African-Americans accounted for significantly higher rates of home access to the Internet. A total of 94% of European-Americans who use the Internet had access at home in 2008, up from 92% two years earlier, according to the report. The rate of home connections among African-American Internet users rose to 87% from 84% over the same period, the report found.
A boost in better connections offset the relatively small increase in the number of Latino-Americans with Internet access at home. The report found that 76% of Latino-Americans had broad-band connections in 2008, up from 63% two years earlier. Broadband connections also rose significantly among European-Americans — from 65% to 82% two years earlier — as well as African-Americans, who went from 63% to 78% over the same period.
The report is based on results of landline telephone surveys conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Internet & American Life Project — both non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. — from February to October 2006, and from August to December 2008.The surveys included interviews of more than 21,000 adults nationwide.
More info:
• "Latinos Online, 2006-2008: Narrowing the Gap" Report at the Pew Hispanic Center
Jerry Sullivan is editor of the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
Images from The Pew Hispanic Center.
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