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Latinos’ economic contribution in the US represents the fifth largest GDP in the world, and the third fastest growing among the largest economies, according to a study released Thursday by Californian universities.
According to the researchers, the GDP of this community in the country in 2020 was 2.8 trillion dollars. If this were the population of an independent country, its economic contribution would be the fifth largest after the US, China, Japan, and Germany.
According to the report, this means that the economic activity of Latinos, who are nearly 19% of the U.S. population, has been greater than that of the UK, India, or France.
“While impressive in volume, the GDP of US Latinos is even more remarkable for its rapid growth,” added the report by Dan Hamilton and Matthew Fienup of California Lutheran University and David Hayes Bautista and Paul Hsu of the University of California, Los Angeles.
They detail that between 2010 and 2020, U.S. Latino GDP was the third fastest growing among the ten largest in the world.
In that period, growth in Hispanic economic activity was 2.6 times faster than that of the non-Latino population.
The authors attributed the economic vigor of the Latino population to virtues such as resilience after the onslaught of the pandemic, a “hard work” ethic, self-reliance, and optimism.
“Another traditional pattern found by researchers over the years is that among all groups studied, Latinos tend to be the most optimistic about the future,” the report noted.
The largest component of GDP in the US is consumer spending, which in 2020 accounted for 67% of the country’s economic activity.
“In that year, US Latino consumption reached $1.84 trillion or 66% of Latino GDP,” the report stressed. “Latinos in the US represent a consumer market larger than the entire economy of countries such as Canada or South Korea.”
According to the study, the Latino contribution in 2020 equaled 16.6 % of the country’s total activity in finance, insurance, and real estate; 13% in professional services; 13.3% in government services; and 8.4% in education, healthcare, and social assistance.
