According to a new report funded by Bank of America and conducted by professors at California Lutheran University and UCLA, Latinas contributed $1.3 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, up from $661 billion in 2010 and at a growth rate nearly triple that of non-Latinas during the same time period, the Associated Press reports.
The report was compiled using publicly available economic and demographic data from U.S. agencies. 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.
Latinas’ increased economic output and labor force growth — reportedly nine times faster than that of non-Latinos — is translating to higher earnings and economic mobility for Latinas.
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” (“Giving Life to the Economy”), 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.
