Hispanics trail other groups in Web usage, confidence

Hispanics are less connected to the Internet than whites and blacks, using Web sites less frequently and expressing more discomfort with computers and technology in the workplace, according to a new survey. That could set back the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group, experts say, as more employment, educational and health-care opportunities migrate online.

According to a new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation-Harvard University poll, 72 percent of Hispanics say they use the Internet, lower than the percentages of whites and African Americans. Fully 57 percent of Hispanics say they don't have enough knowledge about computers and technology to be competitive in the current job environment. That compares with 46 percent of whites and 45 percent of blacks who feel the same level of insecurity about their technological skills.