Collection and Publication of Statistics on Nation's Hispanic Population

Federal agency efforts to implement P.L. 94-311 which mandates that executive branch agencies improve the collection and publication of statistics on the Nation's Hispanic population were reviewed. Of the agencies mentioned in the law, the Departments of Labor, Commerce, and Health, Education, and Welfare have adopted policies which will improve the statistical visibility of the Nation's Spanish-origin population. The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that, in addition to recent publications containing data on Hispanics, it will publish monthly nonseasonably adjusted labor force statistics on the national Hispanic population effective with the availability of January 1979 data. The Bureau of the Census is acting to give the Spanish origin population coverage in all statistical programs equal to that of blacks and whites. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare agencies have moved to develop statistics reflecting the mortality, natality, and social welfare conditions of the Spanish origin population. The Department of Agriculture has no plans to collect social statistics, but it does identify Hispanic participation in its programs. The Department of Commerce's Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards is the agency responsible for developing and coordinating Federal statistical policy. No instances have been found where funding was mentioned as a factor prohibiting agencies from implementing the provisions of P.L. 94-311.