Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and
Speaker 2: Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio. Let's talk a little bit
Speaker 2: about the US economy and specifically the role of Latinos
Speaker 2: in the US economy. According to this year's US Latino
Speaker 2: GDP report, they found that the GDP from latinos hit
Speaker 2: a record high in twenty twenty three, up to four
Speaker 2: point one trillion dollars. That's up from three point seven
Speaker 2: trillion dollars in twenty twenty two. Needless to say, Latinos
Speaker 2: are a huge part of the US economy, and I
Speaker 2: think a lot of people have questions right now about
Speaker 2: what immigration policies and what deportation policies mean for that number.
Speaker 2: We've got with us right now. Anna Valdez, she's President
Speaker 2: CEO of the nonprofit the Latino Donor Collaborative. She joins
Speaker 2: us this afternoon from Los Angeles on a good to
Speaker 2: have you with us this afternoon.
Speaker 1: How would you say the InCom.
Speaker 2: Just describe the how you look at the definition here
Speaker 2: of latinos and of how you're measuring the data and
Speaker 2: their economic impact here.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, first, let me tell you that this report that
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about was done by Arizona State University.
Speaker 1: We work with the Economics Center there, and so what
Speaker 1: we found is that after measuring the Latino GDP in
Speaker 1: the United States, and remember Tom and Emily that all
Speaker 1: these numbers are based on official numbers, and we do
Speaker 1: that so that the credibility is there, so that there
Speaker 1: is no way out of it. And so after measuring
Speaker 1: it for eight years this year, which are the numbers
Speaker 1: from twenty twenty three, as you know, those numbers don't
Speaker 1: come until two years later, the Latino GDP of the
Speaker 1: unit in the United States. Remember this is US Latinos.
Speaker 1: They produced four trillion dollars in GDP. So that you guys,
Speaker 1: and of course our audience understand if Latinos in the
Speaker 1: US would be an economy by themselves, they would be
Speaker 1: the fifth largest economy in the world. And these numbers
Speaker 1: are always surprising when it's the first time you've heard them, right,
Speaker 1: because of course there is this, you know, some unfortunate
Speaker 1: perception that Latinos come to this country and they don't
Speaker 1: contribute and they are actually working with the system. The
Speaker 1: truth is that a large part of the GDP of
Speaker 1: the United States is produced by this cohort.
Speaker 3: What sectors of the economy are Latinos contributing the most to, so.
Speaker 1: You know, traditionally Emily, of course we see that, you know, manufacturing,
Speaker 1: and you know how housing and all this you know fields,
Speaker 1: right the agricultural part, and we're very important and they're
Speaker 1: still very important. What is really interesting of the latest
Speaker 1: reports in the last three years is that the sectors
Speaker 1: like AI, technology, medicine, and all these different fields where
Speaker 1: you usually not relate, right you know, Latinos to the
Speaker 1: growth are happening. And in the report you'll see that
Speaker 1: in the case for example of AI, Latinos over index
Speaker 1: Latino businesses over index in terms of use of AI
Speaker 1: compared to any others ANA.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering about what this impact could be on the
Speaker 2: economy because if we think about mass deportation, the images
Speaker 2: that we're seeing play out right now, what we're seeing
Speaker 2: happen in cities and around the US right now, how
Speaker 2: does this affect workforce growth in the US. Because Latinos
Speaker 2: have been the main force behind workforce growth in recent years,
Speaker 2: and even though a large portion the majority of Latinos
Speaker 2: in the us are US born. Now, I think this
Speaker 2: could still have an effect.
Speaker 1: This has tremendous effects, and not only because you know
Speaker 1: of the actual happenings, but also because of the perception
Speaker 1: right people, as you've seen, you know, people that have
Speaker 1: been here legally, people that are citizens are sometimes just
Speaker 1: generalized within this almost cohort profiling right of you know,
Speaker 1: deportations very very focused on the Latino community. And you
Speaker 1: asked me, how does this affect Well, just think about it.
Speaker 1: According to the Department of Labor and the Census, seventy
Speaker 1: eight percent of all the new workforce in the next
Speaker 1: ten years will come from the Latino community. So if
Speaker 1: you are thinking that, as you know, there is a
Speaker 1: lack of workforce in some of those industries already right
Speaker 1: in actually in all industries already, right before the pandemic,
Speaker 1: there were eleven million jobs not filled because of lack
Speaker 1: of workforce. After the pandemic there were Today there are
Speaker 1: six million jobs not fit. So imagine without this workforce,
Speaker 1: or at least reduced this workforce. You know, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've seen it, but I'm sure you have.
Speaker 1: You know, we see, we hear the CEO of Target
Speaker 1: and the see of Constellation Brands and the CEO of
Speaker 1: Jack in the Box saying what's happening. We need workers,
Speaker 1: we also need consumers. And last number, because you brought
Speaker 1: it up, eighty percent of Latinos eighty one percent of
Speaker 1: Latinos are American citizens, nine percent are here with documents
Speaker 1: which means green card and work permits and student permits.
Speaker 1: And only nine percent of Latinos are undocumented. But still
Speaker 1: the way things are going, you know, this deportation movement
Speaker 1: is not limited to undocumented people.
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about the job market before we let
Speaker 3: you go. Are there more jobs to be filled for
Speaker 3: the Latino community specifically, or is there more demand for
Speaker 3: jobs or more supply of workers than there actually are
Speaker 3: jobs to be had.
Speaker 1: Again, we go back to the numbers of Department of Labor, right,
Speaker 1: And of course we've heard the industry, the dairy industry
Speaker 1: and of course the agricultural farmers right movements, the meat packing.
Speaker 1: But also we here we're as you know, we're bringing
Speaker 1: engineers from other places, right when you know you have
Speaker 1: the Latino cocord over indexing in growth in the engineering
Speaker 1: you know faculties in the United States. So Emily I
Speaker 1: think we're talking about a lack of workforce in general,
Speaker 1: but also a lot of opportunity from a community that
Speaker 1: is extremely young. The average age for Latinos in the
Speaker 1: United States is twelve years old. The average age of
Speaker 1: not Latinos is fifty eight years old. Oh wow, So
Speaker 1: imagine how that's going to look in six years the
Speaker 1: average age is twelve and another number that will be
Speaker 1: shocking is thirty percent of all births according to the
Speaker 1: Census our Latino.
Speaker 2: It's a fascinating demographic story. It's one we're going to
Speaker 2: continue to follow. Anna, thanks for taking your time in
Speaker 2: for your patients this afternoon as we covered so much
Speaker 2: breaking news. Ana Valdez, President and CEO of the nonprofit
Speaker 2: The Latino Donor Collaborative