The fertility rate of Hispanic women in 1987 was significantly higher than that of women not of Hispanic origin - 95.8 total births per 1,000 women 18 to 44 years old as compared with 68.8 per 1,000 women, respectively. This high fertility rate stems partially from the fact that 71 percent of the noninstitutional population of Hispanic women is between the primary childbearing ages of 16 to 44. Therefore, we can expect the overall Hispanic population to continue to grow at a rapid rate. The median age of Hispanic women was only 26.1 years in March 1988. Overall, Hispanic women are younger than Black and White women whose median ages are 28.5 years and 31.2 years, respectively.
Cuban women are the only exception.
This higher median age could result from an aging Cuban population, lower child birth rates and the fact that there has been little immigration of Cubans to the United States in recent years. Of the 54.7 million women in the civilian labor force in 1988, 3.6 millon, or 6.5 percent, were of Hispanic origin. Of this 3.6 million, 58.5 percent were of Mexican origin, 10.4 percent were of Puerto Rican origin, 6.6 percent were of Cuban origin, and 24.5 percent were of other Hispanic origin. Hispanic women reached a milestone in 1986, when, for the first time, their labor force participation rate reached 50 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected that the number of Hispanic women in the labor force will increase by 2.7 million to 5.8 million and that their labor force participation rate will be 57 percent in the year 2000.