Latinas contributed $1.3 billion to the U.S. GDP, equivalent to the entire state of Florida.

Hispanic women contributed $1.3 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2021, up from $661 billion in 2010, a growth rate nearly three times that of other non-Hispanic groups over the same period, according to a new report funded by Bank of America and conducted by professors at California Lutheran University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

“Latinas are the engines of economic vitality in the United States,” said economist Matthew Vienup, one of the study’s authors, in a Zoom conference Monday to present his findings.

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

The $1.3 billion economic contribution from Latinas is comparable to Florida's GDP, and is exceeded only by California, Texas and New York, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Vienup argues that Latinas' increased economic output and labor force growth—nine times faster than non-Latino groups—is reflected in higher incomes and economic mobility.

“We’re moving in the right direction. The wage gap is narrowing, although Latinos face some disadvantages compared to non-Latinos in the U.S.,” said Vienup, adding that Latinos are moving faster than other groups in investing in starting their own businesses and owning homes, despite having less access to capital.

Overall, women have made significant progress in representation in senior positions and high-income industries. But the reduction in the wage gap has stagnated for nearly 20 years, even for Latinas. Black and Latino workers face the largest wage gap of any group.

The new study, “Bringing the Economy Back to Life,” builds on six previous reports on Latinos’ contributions to U.S. GDP conducted in collaboration with Bank of America to examine the growing economic contributions of Latinos living in the United States.

There are several factors behind the accelerated economic growth of Latinas, according to David Hayes Bautista, one of the report's authors and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the UCLA School of Medicine.

“Older Latino immigrants are starting to leave the workforce because of their age, and their American-born daughters and granddaughters are filling their shoes,” Hayes-Bautista explained in a Zoom session Monday. Today’s Latinas are entering the workforce as bilingual professionals with much higher levels of education than their predecessors, she added, creating a catapult effect.

“The daughters and granddaughters of immigrants combine the exceptional and selfless work ethic of their ancestors with the rapid growth of human capital,” he said.

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