Latinos Key to U.S. Economic Growth, Finds

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 7/7/2017, 1:33 p.m.
Latinos are becoming an increasingly critical engine for America's economic growth, a new report finds. In 2015, the 55 million …

Latinos are becoming an increasingly critical engine for America's economic growth, a new report finds. In 2015, the 55 million Latinos living and working in the U.S. were responsible for $2.13 trillion -- or 11.8% -- of America's $18.04 trillion gross domestic product, according to a study released Thursday by the Latino Donors Collaborative, a nonpartisan association of Latino business, political and academic leaders. And those contributions are expected to continue to grow. By 2020, the researchers estimate that Latinos will fuel nearly a quarter of all U.S. GDP growth, and represent 12.7% of the country's total GDP. Helping to power that growth will be the growing number of young Latinos who will be joining the workforce as an older generation of American workers -- the Baby Boomers -- retire. The researchers relied on data from the Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Labor, World Bank, and the University of Minnesota to reach their findings.