- A study presented by Californian universities indicates that Latino workers in the US generate a higher economic activity than countries such as the United Kingdom, India or France
All of us in the United States assume the contribution of the Latino workforce in the country’s economy, but it is easier to sustain it when a study confirms it.
According to a report released by California universities, the economic contribution of Latinos in the United States represents the fifth gross domestic product in the world, and the third fastest growing among large economies.
According to the report, this means that the economic activity of Latinos, who are almost 19% of the population of the United States, has been greater than that of the United Kingdom, India or France.
“While impressive in volume, the GDP of American Latinos is even more remarkable in its rapid growth,” added the report by Dan Hamilton and Matthew Fienup of California Lutheran University, and David Hayes Bautista and Paul Hsu of the University of California, Los Angeles.
The contribution of the Latino community is so great, a GDP of $2.8 trillion dollars in 2020, that if this population were an independent country, they would be the fifth largest and richest nation by themselves, after the United States, China, Japan and Germany.
Between 2010 and 2020, the GDP of Latinos in the United States was the third fastest growing among the ten largest in the world.
The study authors recognized that the Latino workforce has strong values such as post-pandemic resilience, a “hard work” ethic, self-reliance, and optimism, which characterize its rising performance in the American workplace.
“Another traditional pattern found by researchers over the years is that among all groups studied, Latinos tend to be the most optimistic about the future,” the report noted.
It is not only their performance as workers, the largest component of GDP in the United States is consumer spending, which in 2020 represented 67% of the country’s economic activity.
“Latinos in the United States represent a larger consumer market than the entire economy of countries like Canada or South Korea,” the study says.
According to the study, the Latino contribution in 2020 was equivalent to 16.6% of the country’s total activity in finance, insurance and real estate; 13% from professional services; 13.3% in government services and 8.4% in education, health care and social assistance.