Almost the same as all of Florida.

By Claire Savage – Associated Press

Latinos contributed $1.3 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2021, up from $661 billion in 2010 and growing at a rate nearly three times that of non-Hispanics over the same time period, according to a new report funded by Bank of America and conducted by professors at California Lutheran University and the University of California.

The report, compiled using broad economic and demographic data from U.S. organizations, shows that “Latinas are the engines of economic vitality in the United States, and they give life to the U.S. economy,” said economist Matthew Finnup, co-author of the study and executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University, during a Zoom press conference presenting the findings Monday.

“Latinas are outperforming their racial and gender peers on key economic measures, including record levels of Latino labor force participation, educational attainment and income growth,” she added in a press release.

The economic contribution of Latinas, at $1.3 trillion, is roughly equivalent to the GDP of Florida, exceeded only by California, Texas and New York, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Vienop said that the increase in economic production and Growth of the active working population of Latinos – Nine times faster than non-Hispanics – translates into greater income and economic mobility for Latinas.

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“We are moving in the right direction. This wage gap is narrowing, although Latinas face some disadvantages compared to non-Latinas in the United States,” said Vienup, adding that Latinas outpace other groups in investments toward business creation and homeownership, despite less access to capital.

Overall, women have made significant progress in representation in management positions and in high-income sectors. But the wage gap has stalled for about 20 years, even for Latinas. Black and Latino workers face the largest wage gap of all groups.

graduation Giving life to the economyThe new study builds on six previous reports on Latino GDP in the United States, produced in collaboration with Bank of America, to examine the rapid growth in the economic contributions of Latinos living in the United States.

Several factors explain the rapid economic growth of Latinas, according to David Hayes Bautista, co-author of the report and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the UCLA School of Medicine.

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“Older Latino immigrants are starting to stop working.Today's Latino workers are entering the workforce as functionally bilingual professionals with a much higher level of education than their predecessors, creating an added slingshot effect, Hayes-Bautista explained during a Zoom press conference on Monday.

“These daughters and granddaughters of immigrants combine the exceptional, selfless work ethic of their elders with rapid growth in human capital,” Hayes-Bautista said.