US Latinas contributed $1.3 trillion to the GDP, report finds

FILE – Cashier Rosa Dilone helps customers at Mi Tierra Supermarket in Hazleton, Pa., on May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo, File)

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

The report was compiled using publicly available economic and demographic data from U.S. agencies and shows “that Latinas are drivers of economic vitality in the United States, giving life to the U.S. economy,” said economist Matthew Fienup, one of the study’s authors and executive director of California Lutheran University’s Center for Economic Research & Forecasting during a Zoom briefing presenting the findings on Monday.

“Latinas outpace their gender and ethnic peers in key economic measures, including record levels of Latina workforce participation, educational attainment, and income growth,” he added in a press release.

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The $1.3 trillion economic contribution by Latinas is about as much as the GDP of Florida, and only surpassed by California, Texas and New York, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Fienup says that Latinas’ increased economic output and labor force growth — nine times faster than that of non-Latinos — is translating to higher earnings and economic mobility for Latinas.

“We are moving in the right direction. And that wage gap is closing, despite Latinas facing certain disadvantages relative to non-Latinos in the United States,” Fienup said, adding that Latinas are outpacing other groups in investments toward starting businesses and homeownership, despite having less access to capital.

Women overall have made vast gains in C-suite and high-earning industry representation. But wage gap improvement has stalled for about 20 years, including for Latinas. Black and Latina workers experience the largest pay gap of any group.

Titled “Dando Vida a la Economía,” meaning “Giving Life to the Economy” in Spanish, the new study builds upon six previous U.S. Latino GDP Reports written in partnership with Bank of America to examine the rapidly growing economic contributions of Latinos living in the U.S.

Several factors are behind Latinas’ fast-paced economic growth, according to David Hayes-Bautista, a report co-author and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA’s School of Medicine.

“Older immigrant Latinas are starting to age out of the workforce, and their shoes are being filled by their U.S.-born daughters and granddaughters,” Hayes-Bautista explained during Monday’s Zoom briefing. Latina workers today are entering the workforce as functionally bilingual professionals with much higher levels of education than their predecessors, creating a slingshot effect, he added.

“These daughters and granddaughters of immigrants are combining the extraordinary and selfless work ethic of their elders with rapid growth of human capital,” Hayes Bautista said.