"For many years these financial numbers for Hispanics were not improving. Indeed, Hispanic household income, once you adjust for inflation, showed no gains whatsoever in the 1970s, the 1980s and the first part of the 1990s. And likewise the poverty rate for Hispanic households trended upward during that time period," explains Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "And some say this was the result of the economic characteristics of new immigrants -- new Hispanic immigrants.

"But the good news -- the different news -- is that there has been a noticeable turnaround in recent years. New Census data show that household incomes for Hispanics are rising faster than for other demographic groups," he says. "And poverty rates for Hispanics are actually falling.

"The question here is whether the composition of the immigrants who are coming to the U.S. is changing and whether it's becoming skewed more toward folks with more education and therefore higher marketable skills -- or whether existing Hispanic households are beginning to move up the economic ladder," he adds. "Many economists actually think it's the latter."