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The economic output of Hispanics in the United States before the pandemic had an “extraordinary” performance and the 2019 figures alone place it in seventh place worldwide, next to France, a study released Wednesday found.
The research, by the Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC), found that the total economic output, which would be the equivalent of gross domestic product (GDP), of Latinos based in the United States in 2019 amounted to $2.7 trillion.
If this figure were awarded to a country that gathered all Latinos living in the United States it would rank seventh in the world, next to France with a GDP of $2.7 trillion in 2019, and above the economies of Italy, Brazil or Canada.
The analysis “2021 LDC U.S. Latino GDP Report: Quantifying the New American Economy” qualifies as “extraordinary” the performance of the Hispanic economy in the last decade.
It also highlights that while the size of Latino economic output in the country is impressive, the performance is “more remarkable” for its growth.
Strong economic growth
Over the past two years, Latino real GDP growth averaged 5.63 %, double the rate of the United States as a whole at 2.82 %.
When compared globally, Latino GDP growth is the third fastest-growing among the world’s 10 largest economies, ahead of the fourth-ranked U.S. economy, the analysis notes.
The rapid GDP growth among Latinos since 2010 is due, among other factors, to personal consumption, the study notes.
This growth in consumption has not stopped either. For example, by 2019, the consumption of Latinos in the United States stood at $1.85 trillion, which is equivalent to 68 % of the economic output of this population in the country.
Among the factors that have aided the growth in economic output are also the educational attainment of Latinos in the United States.
From 2010 to 2019, the number of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher grew 2.8 times faster for Latinos than for non-Latinos, the study found.
In their conclusion, the researchers highlighted that even though Latinos were hit by the coronavirus pandemic more intensely than other sectors of the population “the persistence of Latinos” in the United States are “an engine of economic growth.”
They added that the “U.S. Latino GDP, will continue to be an important source of strength, resilience and growth for the nation, likely for decades into the future.”
