Income, wealth, and intergenerational mobility are improving for Latinos over the generations, helping close the economic gap. Latinos face barriers similar to those ultimately overcome by waves of immigrants before them. And Latinos’ annual flow of net wealth from one generation to the next could be $380 billion higher. Latino businesses could generate an additional $2.3 trillion in total revenue each year, and 735,000 new business could be created supporting 6.6 million new jobs. In a situation of full parity, they could spend an extra $660 billion annually. Our research finds Latinos are collectively underpaid by $288 billion a year. Furthermore, COVID-19 had a disproportionate impact on Latino lives and livelihoods. And their level of household wealth-which directly affects their ability to accumulate and pass on wealth from generation to generation-is just one-fifth that of White Americans. Latinos struggle with access to food, housing, and other essentials. They face discrimination when it comes to securing financing to start and scale businesses. Latino Americans make just 73 cents for every dollar earned by White Americans.

Yet both US- and foreign-born Latinos remain far from equal with non-Latino White Americans. Latinos born in the United States enjoy higher wages and intergenerational mobility than foreign-born Latinos-suggesting Latinos may overcome the hurdles to full participation in their adopted country over time. Yet America’s contribution to that dream is uneven.

1 Mark Hugo Lopez, Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, and Jens Manuel Krogstad, “Latinos are more likely to believe in the American dream, but most say it is hard to achieve,” Pew Research Center, September 11, 2018,. As a population, they increasingly embody-in spirit and reality-the American dream that hard work pays off and each successive generation will be better off than the one before.

Latinos start more businesses and have higher rates of intergenerational mobility, and their share of skilled and higher-paid occupations has increased in the past decade. Latinos make up 18.4 percent of the US population and 17.3 percent of the US labor force, a share forecast to rise more than 30 percent by 2060.

Hispanic outlook identity