Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim said that increasing worker's earning power and offering Latino-owned companies easier access to financing can help better the socio-economic status of Latinos in the U.S. and Latin America,The Associated Press reported.

Slim spoke for more than an hour at the annual meeting of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders, touching on the struggle of Latino workers and businesses.

"What is important is that people earn more and that more middle classes are formed," said Slim, who Forbes named the world's second-richest person with a $75 billion fortune. Slim owns America Movil, a telecom titan.

In his address, Slim said it is important to set up investment firms that work directly with small and medium-sized Latino businesses. He also restated his favor of a three-day work week, which has been a popular idea of late.

In such a system, workers would only work three days per week but work longer than the typical eight-hour workday. Employees would also work into their 70s, but the idea is focused on giving people more time to spend outside the office.

Slims comments come at a time of great Latino influence in the U.S. According to U.S. census data, around 53 million Latinos are living in the U.S., roughly 17 percent of the population. Yet, Latino-owned businesses still struggle to find financing.

Martin Cabrera, CEO of an investment firm who attended the conference, said there are multibillion-dollar pension funds that have investment arms to provide financing to startups and other companies. Just not to Latino companies.

"The amount of business they are doing with Latino (firms) is close to zero," Cabrera said.

In an effort to further benefit Latinos in the U.S., The Carlos Slim Foundation last week launched a website -- Acceso Latino -- that offers tools and information about education, health care, job training and other features, according to Fox New Latino.