ACAPULCO, Mexico – Like the weather in this booming resort, Mexico's economy is hot. The government is awash in oil profits. Exports are at record levels. The stock market index has almost doubled in the last two years. Unemployment is at 3.3 percent.

• More and more Mexicans who immigrate to the U.S. are employed urban dwellers with high school diplomas and even some college experience who are looking for better prospects, studies in both countries show.
  • Studies support the suggestion that many Mexican immigrants in the U.S were motivated to leave their country by a desire not just for employment, but for better jobs and mobility:
  • Only 5 percent of Mexican workers who had been in the U.S. for two years or less were unemployed before they left Mexico, according to a 2005 survey by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center.

The nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses generated nearly $222 billion in revenue, up 19 percent from 1997.

• In 2002, nearly 3-in-10 Hispanic-owned firms operated in construction and other services, such as personal services, and repair and maintenance.
• In 2002, firms owned by people of Mexican origin accounted for more than 44 percent of all Hispanic-owned firms.
• There were 1,510 Hispanic-owned firms with 100 employees or more, generating more than $42 billion in gross receipts.  

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Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002