WASHINGTON - The growth rate of the Mexican-born population in the United States has been slowing since the middle of last year, the Pew Hispanic Center reported.
The Washington group said in 2005 and 2006, the Mexican-born population grew at about 8 percent a year but in the first quarter of 2007 the growth rate slowed to 4.2 percent.
That equates the earlier growth to about 495,000 people a year on a quarterly basis versus 288,000 for this year's first quarter.
The center said U.S. employment of all foreign-born Hispanics in the first quarter grew by 3.3 percent compared with 6.6 percent gains in the quarters ranging from 2004 to 2006.
Pew said there are an estimated 7 million Mexicans living in the United States, up from 4 million in mid-2000.
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