Key takeaways
- California's Latino GDP surpassed $1 trillion in 2023.
- Without Latinos, California's GDP, which represented the fifth-largest global economy in 2023, would have fallen to eighth.
- In 2023, 41% of working-age Latinos living in the state were immigrants.
Earlier this year, the latest U.S. Latino GDP Report revealed that the direct economic output of the country's Latino population exceeded $4 trillion for the first time. Now, new findings from researchers at UCLA and California Lutheran University show that a quarter of that came from Latinos in one state: California.
"Latinos have been driving California's economy for 250 years," said co-author David Hayes-Bautista, a distinguished professor of medicine at UCLA and the report's co-author.
The California Latino GDP Report, which looks at the economic contributions and performance by Latinos in 2023, showed that Latinos significantly enhanced California's output.
"The importance of rapid Latino growth rates, and the intensity of economic activity which they represent, cannot be overstated," said Matthew Fienup, executive director of the Center for Economic Research & Forecasting at Cal Lutheran and co-author of the report. "The vitality of the overall California economy greatly depends on the intensity of the economic activity of Latinos."
The impact of the Latino GDP is bolstered by several key factors, such as:
- The Latino labor force in California is growing at a rate 15 times faster than the non-Latino labor force.
- Educational attainment by Latinos is growing 3.4 times faster than that of non-Latinos.
- California Latinos are 5.6 percentage points more likely to be actively working than their non-Latino counterparts.
- Researchers also found that Latinos enjoy better health outcomes, with lower age-adjusted mortality across all five leading causes of death, and a life expectancy that is more than two years longer than non-Latino whites.
California's Latino economy is also more diversified than the overall state economy. The top industries Latinos are involved in, researchers found, were sectors defined as finance and real estate; professional and business services; government services; education and health care; and retail trade. In finance and real estate, Latinos produced over $137 billion in economic output.
The study's findings highlight the importance of California's Latino immigrant population in the state's economy. In 2023, 41% of working-age Latinos living in the state were immigrants. After applying that share to the California Latino GDP, the researchers estimate that Latino immigrants may be responsible for as much as $400 billion in annual economic output in California.
California had an overall GDP of nearly $3.9 trillion in 2023, according to previously released information from the governor's office. Without the $1 trillion Latino GDP in the overall state GDP, California, when compared to countries, would fall from being the fifth-largest global economy in 2023 to eighth.
Hayes-Bautista, who co-founded the research initiative and serves as the director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, emphasized the significance of supporting Latino youth, especially since strong GDP growth leads to rising wages, higher standards of living and greater economic mobility not just for Latinos, but for all.
"The state needs to maximize its investment in young Latinos' health and education," he said. "Anything that detracts from that investment detracts from California's future."
The new report is part of a larger research initiative that documents the rapidly growing economic contributions of Latinos in the United States. In addition to the annual national reports and the inaugural Latina GDP report, the researchers have also taken more detailed looks at major metropolitan areas and other states, such as Florida, Arizona and Texas.
