Accounting for more than 13 percent of the United States’ nearly $21 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, the economic strength of the Latino community has become an essential driver of growth and prosperity across the country, a report from the Latino Donor Collaborative finds.

The 2022 LDC U.S. Latino GDP Report  (43 pages, PDF)—prepared in collaboration with California Lutheran University’s Center for Economic Research and Forecasting and the University of California, Los Angeles Geffen School of Medicine’s Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture—details the economic dynamism of the Latino community, highlighting labor participation, new business development, and the community’s resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2010 and 2020, the Latino share of U.S. GDP rose from $1.7 trillion to $2.8 trillion—a 64 percent increase. In the same period, the Latino population grew 21.9 percent, and now represents 18.7 percent of the total U.S. population.

According to the study, between 2010 and 2020, the Latino community accounted for 52 percent of all new employer businesses and contributed an average of 600,000 new workers per year to the U.S. labor force. During that decade, real wages for Latinos rose 4.3 percent compared to 2.1 percent for non-Latinos. While the Latino community—and communities of color generally—suffered greater negative health impacts from COVID-19, the report found that during the pandemic, real wages for Latinos rose 6.7 percent, while they declined 1.1 percent for non-Latinos.

“This report reflects the remarkable resilience U.S. Latinos have demonstrated during their long history in our country,” said Latino Donor Collaborative co-founder Sol Trujillo. “With this report, we now know that U.S. Latinos continue to be our country’s true growth cohort.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Ridofranz)