A new report from Bank of America says that Latinos have contributed $92 billion dollars to Arizona’s Gross Domestic Product.

Contributions are most prominent in Education & Healthcare (16.9% of Arizona’s Latino GDP), Finance & Real Estate (12.9%), and Professional and Business Services (11.8%).

There are eight states in the U.S. that are home to approximately three-quarters of the Latino population (Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York and Texas). These states have a Latino GDP of $2 trillion dollars. According to the study, if that figure were separated into a country of its own, that GDP would sit at the eighth-largest in the world, above Brazil and South Korea.

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Compared to the 10-largest GDPs in 2018, the Latino GDP was the fastest growing, maintaining a pace that was 21% faster than India’s and 30% faster than China’s. If the Latino population of the aforementioned eight states were a single state, it would produce a state GDP that would be second only to California.

The biggest impact comes from personal Latino consumption, which totaled more than $60.7 billion in 2018 alone.

Latinos are also making large contributions to the state outside of the economy. The Latino labor force grew at a rate that was “nearly 7 and a half times as quickly as the non-Latino labor force.”

An additional study released by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management assessing why Latinos are making such an outsize economic impact found that, accompanied with the growth denoted in the Bank of America study, the growth of the affluent Latino community is outpacing the growth of the affluent general population.

Affluent Hispanic/Latino households have grown by 81% since 2015, whereas the general population has seen an increase of 53%.

The study findings were largely focused around an increased presence of family. Based on a representative sample of 512 affluent Hispanic/Latino households, the study found that family is a key motivating factor in creating financial stability.

More than one-third of affluent Hispanics say that providing for their family is a top motivator. On top of that, they’re three times more likely than the general population to be driven by a desire to make their family proud.

The testimonials included in the report include stories from first and second generation immigrants. Daisy Zuccardi, a first generation immigrant said, “I’m very grateful for the people who helped me when I first came to this country. So I would like to give back,” a common sentiment echoed in many of the interviews.

Both studies predict their identified trends will continue for quite some time.

 

This story was originally published at Chamber Business News.