Latinos in the US: A Minority Becoming the Majority

By Andrea Ano First Posted: Apr 18, 2020 07:51 AM EDT

(Photo: Pixabay)

The U.S. Census Bureau says that the population of the Latinx community in the U.S. has swelled to six times the number from the 1970s.

For instance, in Los Angeles, 45 percent of the population is Latino, most of whom are Mexicans. Miami, on the other hand, comprises 43 percent Latinos, most of whom are Cuban. In metropolitan New York, 24 percent are Latino of different subgroups, but mostly of Puerto Rican descent.

Information is power, and traditionally, Latinos have been kept out from the system on many crucial issues they ought to know, along with their tremendous strength and might. We decided to inspire all of us by informing our community on how our numbers are influential.

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A Community of Entrepreneurs

Most people in the U.S. call people of South or Central American descent or of Spanish culture, sans consideration of race, Hispanic, or Latino.

Data from 2018 shows that almost 60 million in the U.S. are Latino, making up 18 percent of the population. This makes the Hispanics the ethnic minority the largest in the nation. Out of the number, 25.2 million are over 18 and part of the voting population.

Between 2007 and 2016, Latinos in entrepreneurship grew to 137 percent. This much data accounts for the U.S. Latino GDP, which is $2.3 trillion in the U.S. as of 2017. This is a GDP higher than Brazil or Italy, CNBC reports.

Since the 2008 economic downturn, by far one of the worst financial crises in global history, Latinos account for 82 percent of the growth in the labor force. In fact, in the last decade, 80 percent of new businesses in the U.S. were started by the Latino community. Over 4 million businesses are Hispanic-owned, which means that 1 in every five new entrepreneurs in the U.S. are Latinos.

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Challenges to Education

Educational achievement accounts for much of the success considered by the Latino community in the U.S. In most data consensus that the U.S. Department of Education has for Hispanics and Latinos, there is no distinction among subgroups, where cultural and economic differences are disregarded.

Most parents and children agree that in order to gain meaningful employment, a college degree is a staple factor. Expectations that Latino children have for themselves may often involve a future for career stability, which is often consequential of educational instruction.

However, too many opportunities to gain this experience may come to an advantage since a variety of socioeconomic issues contribute to insufficient school resources, especially since the U.S. education system might seem foreign to them.

Latino students need to become engaged in academics so that they may be able to form a secure relationship with their education. That way, they will start to associate the achievement of schoolwork with their futures.