LATINO ECONOMIC REPORT
JULY 2024
From the Pandemic to the Present: Forging a Path from Recovery to Prosperity
More than four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Hispanic* community has largely recovered from the shutdown of the U.S. economy. This is attributable to the resilience and hard work of Latino workers, families, and business owners and to successful federal policies that delivered emergency financial assistance during the federally declared national emergency.
This report traces the economic journey of the Hispanic community from the pandemic to the present. It puts a spotlight on the financial shocks Latinos experienced in the early days of COVID-19 and showcases the powerful role the government played in supporting and bolstering their financial well-being during this time. The report also highlights challenges Latinos face today in achieving financial security, accessing economic opportunity, and ultimately contributing more to the nation’s prosperity. The report concludes by laying out a forward-looking economic agenda that responds to these challenges for Latinos while making the country stronger.
Latinos are a crucial engine of the U.S. economy. The nation’s 63 million Latinos collectively contribute $3.2 trillion to the U.S. economy1 and own close to 5 million businesses producing more than $800 billion in revenue every year.2 If Latinos in the United States were an independent country, the scale of the Hispanic American economic output would constitute the fifth largest economy in the world—larger than the economy of India3.
The economic story of Latinos during the past four years is not a single story, because the Hispanic community is not monolithic. The experience, needs, and outlook of working-class Latinos are distinct from those of college-educated and middle-class Hispanics.
*The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” are used interchangeably by the U.S. Census Bureau and throughout our materials to refer to persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American, Dominican, Spanish, and other Hispanic descent; they may be of any race.
1Hamilton, Dan, Matthew Fienup, David Hayes Bautista and Paul Hsu, “2023 US Latino GDP Report,” California Lutheran University and UCLA Health, Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, September 2023, https://blogs.callutheran.edu/cerf/files/2023/09/2023_USLatinoGDP_report.pdf.
2Gomez-Aguinaga, Barbara, George Foster and Jerry I. Porras, “2023 State of Latino Entrepreneurship,” Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, March 2024, https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/state-latino-entrepreneurship-2023.
3Hamilton, Dan, Matthew Fienne, David HayesBautista and Paul Hsu, “2023 US Latino GDP Report.”
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