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HISPANIC POPULATION GROWTH
Fast-growing Hispanic community continues to create big impact
By Holly Fisher
Contributing Writer
Quite often Dr. Maria Cordova’s entire slate of morning appointments is filled with patients from the Hispanic community. Ten years ago, she might have had one Hispanic patient a week.
The Hispanic patient boom at Cordova’s downtown dental office is one of many examples of Charleston’s growing Hispanic population and the impact that population is having on local businesses.
A native of Chile, Cordova says when she first moved to Charleston in 1972, she and her husband knew every Hispanic person who came into town. “Now we don’t even know the people in the Medical University where my husband works,” she says of the exploding growth.
“[The growth] has been so fast that it’s noticeable,” she says. “It hasn’t been a gradual change. It’s been an explosion.”
Cordova predicts even more growth in 2005 and beyond. She also expects her business will continue to flourish as the local Hispanic population becomes more educated and recognizes the importance of dental health care.
South Carolina’s Hispanic population has risen dramatically in the last decade and even had the fourth fastest growth rate among all states between 2000 and 2002. According to the Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies, the state’s Hispanic population grew from 30,551 in 1990 to 96,178 in 2000. The estimate for 2002 was 109,285. That number could be as high as 500,000 because many Hispanics are not counted in formal surveys.
The consortium is based at the University of South Carolina and is made up of students and faculty from the USC system, Clemson University, Universidad Veracruzana de Mexico and Midlands Technical College.
“I think we haven’t seen anything yet,” says Elaine Lacy, director of the Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies, in regard to the state’s Hispanic population growth.
Lacy is overseeing a research project interviewing Mexicans that have immigrated to South Carolina. Eighty percent of those interviewed have arrived from Mexico in the last three years—another example of how South Carolina’s Latino population has exploded in the last decade.
While other states have seen a Hispanic population surge, South Carolina has been near the top of the list. Lacy says part of the reason is the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which legalized about three million immigrants—many of whom were Mexicans living in the United States as undocumented workers. Many were in New York, California and Chicago, common cities for immigrants. But thanks to the IRCA, these immigrants had documentation and a newfound freedom to move around the country, Lacy explains.
South Carolina has become a new Hispanic hotspot. The state’s economy has grown to include more service sector and lower-paying jobs, which are often filled by Hispanic immigrants, she notes.
“It’s the lure of the jobs. Once you have migrants coming from a certain place, other people in that same community are going to come, too,” Lacy explains. “Migration channels are established and people start to flood across.”
Lacy says the consortium plans to continue its research, documenting changes in the Latino population over a period of time as well as expanding the research to immigrants from other countries.
“The second largest population is Puerto Rican, followed by Cuban, then Colombian and Central American, and there are a lot of people from South America,” Lacy says. “They are diverse in terms of culture, social class and education. It’s important to document more than just the experience of the Mexican population.”
In the Lowcountry, the Hispanic population is growing just as quickly. The South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics shows a 2002 population estimate of almost 14,000 Hispanics in the tri-county region. That number has doubled since 1990. As evidenced throughout the entire country, this group is quickly dropping its minority status and becoming a key factor for businesses.
A quick look around the Lowcountry reveals that local businesses are taking note of the Hispanic spending power. Billboards, signs, advertising and the hiring of bilingual employees are all indications that businesses are reaching out to Spanish-speaking customers. In addition, businesses focused solely on the Hispanic population are cropping up. Ashley Phosphate Road is home to at least half a dozen restaurants and markets featuring food, cooking supplies and other items targeted at the Hispanic population.
Although many Hispanics, particularly second- and third- generation, speak English, Spanish remains an important language to those choosing to hang on to cultural roots and for newcomers who haven’t learned English.
Theories abound about how much Hispanics are assimilating. Lacy prefers to call it “incorporation.” “I think by the time we get to the second and third generation, we are going to see incorporation, but it’s going to be on their own terms. They will borrow from our culture what they like.”
Grocery stores, car dealerships and real estate agencies are cashing in by targeting the Hispanic consumer.
“It’s here and it’s happening and that population is going to grow,” says Jim Hatchell, president of the S.C. Merchants Association, as quoted in a 2004 Business Journal story, commenting on the importance of reaching the Hispanic buyer. “If you’re a smart businessman, you’re going to cater to that.”
Holly Fisher is a regular contributor to the Business Journal. E-mail her at editorial@crbj.com.
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