New UnidosUS Report Finds Latinos Have Largely Recovered from Post-COVID Economy, Challenges Remain
The largest assessment of economic data on Hispanic families since the pandemic highlights opportunities for future growth and increased prosperity
Washington, DC – UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, released today a first-of-its-kind economic report finding that Latino families have largely bounced back post-COVID—buying homes, creating businesses, accumulating household wealth and making purchases at a far greater rate than the rest of the economy. However, the report also reveals growing economic concerns among Latinos, particularly among working-class families. UnidosUS’s review of the data corresponds with recent polling and community engagement activities with Latino leaders and UnidosUS Affiliates across the country.
Moreover, the successes the community has experienced over the past years must be protected and improved upon. Considering the estimated 17.5 million Latino voters that will head to the polls this November, UnidosUS’s report, From the Pandemic to the Present: Forging a Path from Recovery to Prosperity, assesses how the Latino community has fared financially since 2020 and offers a series of policy recommendations to maintain their positive economic momentum, which ultimately contributes to the nation’s prosperity.
“The fact that the Latino community has already largely recovered from the economic blow of COVID is a testament to our community’s resilience and the resounding efficacy of the federal emergency and recovery response,” said UnidosUS Senior Vice President Eric Rodriguez. “Nearly 70% of Latino voters benefited from at least one federal pandemic relief policy. These bold investments helped drop Hispanic unemployment back under 5% by the end of 2021, grew real wages for Hispanics at their fastest rate in 40 years and allowed the U.S. to make the fastest economic recovery in the world. Further, the median wealth of Hispanic households increased by 47% from 2019 to 2022, and middle-class, college-educated Latinos experienced the vast majority of the gains.”
However, the report suggests that some of these successes might be short-lived without continued investment. As pandemic programs ended and costs continued to rise, the number of Latinos who report that they are doing OK financially dropped from a high of 71% in 2021 to 61%. More than a million Latino children fell back into poverty.
“The last five years have shown us how smart public investments can remove unnecessary barriers to opportunity and strengthen both working-class and middle-class communities,” said Lisette Orellana Engel, Director of UnidosUS’s Economic Policy Project. “As the federal government prepares to deploy more than a trillion new dollars in the U.S. economy thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and CHIPS and Science Act, it is essential that these funds are administered in a way that ensures they reach and benefit the Latino community.”
The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on employment and earnings for the country’s 63 million Latinos, especially working-class Latinos. In the early months of the pandemic, Hispanic unemployment spiked to 18.9%, and more than a quarter of Latino business owners lost substantial revenue or their entire business. Among the report’s key findings:
- If Latinos in the U.S. represented their own country, their 2021 economic output of $3.2 trillion would have made it the fifth largest economy in the world—larger than India.
- There are 4.7 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S.
- Latinos’ real consumption is growing three times faster than that of non-Latinos, and they represent 78% of the net new labor force this decade.
- Federal pandemic relief helped lift 1.3 million Latino children out of poverty and grow the median wealth of Hispanic households by 47%.
- Among Latinos recently polled by UnidosUS in Arizona, California, and Texas, 62% had less than $400 in emergency savings, and more than a third had no emergency funds set aside at all.
- Among college-educated Latinos, more than a quarter have less than $10,000 in retirement savings.
The report also makes several policy recommendations to help Latinos boost their incomes, cope with high housing and health care costs, and access affordable credit. These include:
- Restore the enhanced refundable child tax credit to move more families out of poverty.
- Invest in training programs and skills and credential-based hiring to help Latinos without college degrees move into higher-paying jobs and industries.
- Regulate predatory lending, overdraft fees, and interest rates to allow Latinos more access to credit for unforeseen expenses.
- Expand investment in Community Development Financial Institutions to help more Latinos access low-cost loans, coaching and technical assistance to start their own businesses.
- Increase Pell Grants and expand investment in community colleges and public universities to ensure that cost doesn’t keep qualified students from pursuing their dreams.
- Offer tax incentives for developers and reform zoning laws to increase the availability and affordability of starter homes.
The full report is available here.