New Orleans     Here are some interesting factoids that have crossed my path recently:

* Of the estimated 7.3 Million undocumented workers in the United States now, the leading job classifications where we will find such workers are in the following areas according to the Pew Hispanic Center:
o 436,000 Cooking
o 400,000 Construction
o 342,000 Housekeeping
o 299,000 Groundskeeping
o 247,000 Agricultural
o 167,000 Painter; Construction Workers
o 128,000 Food Preparation
o 111,000 Packaging
o 93,000 Roofing
o 97,000 Butcher; Fish and Meat Processing

* On the published index of Economic Freedom for 2007 for 157 countries the claim is that the “poor are becoming richer,” but here are the 11 at the top of “economic freedom,” the eleven in the middle, and the eleven at the bottom:
o 1 Hong Kong 78 Mongolia 147 Chad
o 2 Singapore 79 Kyrgyzstan 148 Guinea-Bissau
o 3 Australia 80 Fiji 149 Angola
o 4 United States 81 Moldova 150 Iran
o 5 New Zealand 82 Kenya 151 Republic of Congo
o 6 United Kingdom 83 Turkey 152 Turkmenistan
o 7 Ireland 84 Sri Lanka 153 Burma
o 8 Luxembourg 85 Saudi Arabia 154 Zimbabwe
o 9 Switzerland 86 Senegal 155 Libya
o 10 Canada 87 Poland 156 Cuba
o 11 Chile 88 Cape Verde 157 North Korea

* New Census Data recently released indicates the following that might surprise:
o Chicago in July 1, 2006 edged out Honolulu in numbers of Asian citizens
o Washington, DC now has more Hispanic citizens than El Paso
o Houston now has more African-Americans than Los Angeles

o The cities that are now majority minority are:
 Denver, Colorado and East Baton Rouge, Louisiana

o The largest numerical increases since 2000 in Hispanic population are:
 Los Angeles 576,630
 Riverside 545,152
 Dallas 472,222
 Houston 470,157
 New York 418,720

o African-American populations declined in:
 New Orleans
 San Francisco
 Los Angeles
 San Diego
 New York

o The largest numerical gains for African Americans were in:
 Atlanta 370,470
 Houston 142,364
 Dallas 130,367
 Miami 126,819
 Washington 114,915

o Harris County and East Baton Rouge Parish registered the largest increase of black residents by absorbing the Katrina population from New Orleans.

Think about it!