Latinas in the U.S. contributed $1.3 trillion in economic output in 2021, a more than 50% increase compared to 2010, according to a new report.
The first-of-its-kind report measures the market value of all goods and services, or GDP, produced by Latinas in the U.S. It shows the significant and rapidly increasing influence Latinos, especially women, are having on the U.S. economy at a time when the growth of the nation’s Latino population in general is often portrayed in a negative light, the researchers said.
“It’s clear that when Latinos go from 65 million now to close to 90 million by 2060, that will be the best thing that ever happened to the U.S. economy,” said David Hayes-Bautista, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the School of Medicine, UCLA.
Given the flat or declining population growth in the U.S., “Latinos are the secret ingredient for the U.S. economy to maintain its preeminence throughout the 21st Century,” Hayes-Bautista said.
The report, titled U.S. Latina GDP Report, funded by Bank of America, builds on the work of Hayes-Bautista going back to the 1980s when the rapid growth of the Latino population in California prompted a negative reaction that the state was being overtaken by “gangbanging illegal immigrant teenagers and pregnant moms living on welfare,” Hayes-Bautista said during a conference call Monday.
For perspective, the $1.3 trillion economic output of Latinas, up from $661 billion in 2010,…
