New Congressional Report Highlights Growing Role US Latinos Play in Nation’s Economy

By:
Oct 7, 2019
11:15 AM

(Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

A new report about the U.S Latino community released Monday by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Vice Chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), reiterated a recent economic estimate that said the country’s close to 60 million Latinos generate $2.3 trillion in economic activity.

Titled “The Economic State of the Latino Community in America,” the JEC-CHC report noted that U.S. Latinos will be a key drive of overall economic growth for the 40 years, helping “help offset downward pressures on the U.S. economy stemming from the rising number of retirements and plateauing labor force,” a media released said.

The full report is below:

“For too long, too little attention has been paid to the economic contributions of Latinos. This report helps dispel the fog of ignorance surrounding the fact that not only our future, but our present as well, depends upon Latino economic contributions to make America thrive,” Congresswoman Maloney said in the release. “Latinos are more likely to be in the workforce than the population as a whole. They are more likely to be entrepreneurs, as nearly one in four new businesses in this country are Latino-owned. These are but two examples demonstrating how our future economic success is created by Latinos in every part of the nation.”

“I am proud to highlight all the accomplishments and contributions Latinos have made to our country during Hispanic Heritage Month, and I am deeply grateful to Chairwoman Maloney and the staff of the Joint Economic Committee for compiling this report on the economic state of our Hispanic community. This report confirms what numerous reports have previously found—Hispanics drive our economy and make enormous contributions to our communities,” Castro explained in the release. “With this data, we can also work to confront the economic challenges that have held our community back, from the gender wage gap that pays Latinas just 54 cents to every dollar earned by her white male counterparts, to the disparities in household wealth across generations. Together, we can use this data to reach out to those in need and build an infrastructure of opportunity to ensure Latinos can continue to succeed and prosper.”

A few of the report’s takeaways include the following:

  • By 2060, about one in four people living in the United States will be Latino, up from 18 percent today.
  • Eleven states currently have more than a million Latino residents.
  • Rural areas experienced the fastest Latino population growth over the last decade.
  • Two-thirds of Latinos in the United States are native-born.
  • The percentage of Latinos with a bachelor’s degree has doubled since 1990.
  • By 2030, Latinos will comprise more than half of all new homeowners.

The report also cited the following challenges in the U.S. Latino community:

  • The median income of Latino households is nearly $20,000 less than that of non-Latino white households.
  • The Median net worth of Latino households in 2016 was just one-eighth of the net worth of non-Hispanic white households.
  • The median Latina woman earns just 54 cents for every dollar earned by the median non-Latino white man.
  • Latinos have less access to credit and banking services than non-Latino white households and are 1.7 times more likely to live in poverty.