According to a December 2023 report from the U.S Chamber of Commerce, despite headwinds from high inflation and a tight labor market, small business confidence was up at year-end and remains steady after the first quarter of 2024.

And that is good news for business owners, including the more than 600,000 Hispanic small business owners in Florida. The Sunshine State ranks as the second highest in the number of Hispanic small business owners.. READ MORE AT YAHOO FINANCE

Latinos outpace non-Latinos in the United States by wide margins in purchasing power and annualized income growth, as well as business creation, growth and resiliency. While Latinos make up 20% of the U.S. population, Latinos comprise just 1% of franchise owners. READ MORE AT FRANCHISE WIRE

While the gender pay gap persists for all women relative to their white male counterparts, it has long been widest for Latinas, who are paid 46% less than white men and 26% less than white women. One explanation offered for this gap has been that Latinas are more likely to hold low-wage jobs—but research indicates that those pay disparities remain in place among women who are more educated or work in more lucrative industries. READ MORE AT FAST COMPANY

The fastest growing Hispanic food company in the country, based in Central Texas, is helping empower and support Latino communities across the U.S. This year, Siete Family Foods is awarding a total of $300,000 to Latino-owned food and beverage establishments across the country, marking its biggest distribution to date. READ MORE AT MYSANANTONIO

Despite being the largest minority group in the United States, 19% of the population, Latinos are underrepresented in both the media and film and television productions. According to a study by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of California, the data has not improved in the last 16 years. In nearly two decades, only 75 actors in lead or co-lead roles were Latino, which means that the representation of actors of Latino origin in Hollywood is only 4.4%. READ MORE AT EL PAIS

Latinas are one of the most powerful women in the United States but it’s still an uphill battle when it comes to financial equality. Latina entrepreneurs create businesses 50x more than the national average and Latinas college rates have skyrocketed over the last 20 years. READ MORE AT HIP LATINA

The wealth gap between white families and their Black and Latino counterparts has widened by more than $1 million, according to a new analysis by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on economic and social policy research. White families have a median wealth of $284,310, more than four times that of Latinos ($62,120). Additionally, the analysis found that the wealth gap widens with age — on average, white families accumulate more wealth over their lives than Latino families in the same age group. READ MORE AT THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

In 2023, there were more than 9.5 million Latino homeowners in the United States, according to a report by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals®. In other words, about half of Latinos in the U.S. own their homes. In Chicago, that figure stood at around 43% in 2017, nonprofit Prosperity Now reported. READ MORE AT AUSTIN WEEKLY NEWS

A new report examining Latino wealth in six U.S. states shows that New York — where Puerto Ricans and Dominicans make up the largest Latino ethnic groups — has the highest wealth disparities between Latino and white households. 

The Brookings Metro report shows that white households in New York hold 40 times the wealth of Latino households. That’s a stark contrast to Illinois — home to the smallest Latino-white wealth gap — where white households hold 1.9 times the wealth of Latino households. READ MORE AT LOS ANGELES

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased interest in wearable health-monitoring devices among low-income Hispanic and Latine adults living in the U.S., a new Northwestern University study has found. The study was published today (May 8) in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. While the pandemic highlighted the need for regular health monitoring, these groups often lack access to affordable health care and sometimes distrust existing health systems. Wearables, therefore, could provide a reliable, at-home alternative to traditional in-clinic health monitoring.

But, although interest has increased, several barriers remain that prevent these groups from adopting wearable technologies. According to the researchers, tech companies historically have designed current wearable devices with affluent, predominantly white users in mind. READ MORE AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NEWS

Latinos are making their mark in Houston and across the nation economically, according to the latest Metro Latino GDP Report. As of 2021, the Houston metro area is the second largest metropolitan statistical area in Texas. It’s also the fourth largest MSA in the nation by Latino population.

$581 billion - The Texas Latino GDP for 2021 matches the economic output of Michigan.

2.7 times - The Texas Latino GDP grew 2.7 times faster than the Non-Latino GDP from 2018 to 2021.

28.7 percent - Texas’ Latino population saw a growth of 28.7 percent from 2010 to 2021, compared to 12.9 percent for non-Latinos. READ MORE AT CLICK2HOUSTON

The first Hispanic American-owned banks in the mainland U.S. were established in the 1960s, one of the first being Centinel Bank of Taos. Hispanic American financial institutions were created to provide services to low-income and minority communities, particularly Hispanic American communities. Historically, Hispanic Americans have been affected by discriminatory lending practices like redlining and experienced limited economic opportunities to build wealth. READ MORE AT BUSINESS INSIDER

Latino college students are more likely to be first-generation students and less likely to leave college having earned their degrees, according to a new report from Excelencia in Education. Of the Latino students in U.S. colleges and universities, those of Mexican or Chicano descent constitute almost half (49%) of the population. Meanwhile, students of other Hispanic backgrounds made up 27%; those of Puerto Rican descent made up 12%, and those of Cuban descent 2%. READ MORE AT DIVERSE EDUCATION

Latino-owned businesses are a dynamic and growing portion of the U.S.; with more than 5 million firms driving $800 billion in revenue, they represent a huge opportunity for the U.S. In fact, the number of Latino-owned businesses is growing 10x faster than white-owned businesses. READ MORE AT LATINO BUSINESS ACTION NETWORK

Half of Hispanic adults (50%) reported being very worried about having enough money for retirement, six percentage points higher than the response from the general population, according to LIMRA’s 2023 Insurance Barometer Study, but the owner of a Hispanic-run financial wellness platform says focused engagement with the Latino audience can help.

Approaching 70 million people, or nearly 20% of the U.S. population, Latinos present a significant opportunity for every sector, according to Finhabits’ 2023 “Power in Numbers” report. Yet efforts to capitalize on the wealth potential of this segment, which by the firm’s estimates will grow to $113 trillion by 2050, have so far fallen short. READ MORE AT PLAN ADVISER

The recently released 2023 Hispanic Wealth Report showed that more Latinos are making money, owning homes, and building generational wealth for their families. According to the report, 49.5% of the Hispanic population in the United States are now homeowners. That's on track to have 70% of all Latinos be homeowners by 2040. READ MORE AT WFTS TAMPA BAY

For Hispanic-Latinos, the drive to become financially successful isn’t just about accumulating wealth — rather, it’s driven by a strong feeling of responsibility to support our families and the Hispanic-Latino community. In A Merrill survey. 

Affluent Hispanic-Latinos in the Merrill survey were also four times more likely than the affluent general population to say that planning to assist aging parents financially is their most important financial goal. READ MORE AT ML.COM

Latino enrollment in higher education institutions has been growing with the Hispanic population, and Latinos have made substantial strides in earning college degrees. But the elimination of DEI programs is occurring as Latinos' degree-earning is still failing to keep pace with that of white students. READ MORE AT NBC NEWS

US Latinos account for 24 percent of box office ticket sales and 24 percent of streaming subscribers.3 To put this into even sharper contrast, US Latinos see films 3.3 times a year, per capita, compared with 2.9 for Asian-Americans and 2.3 for White Americans.

Yet Latinos hold less than 5 percent of leading on-screen, off-screen, and executive leadership roles in US media. Half of large media companies’ boardrooms include no Latino representation, and overall there is limited progress toward parity. As a result, the many facets of the Latino identity, from the United States and around the world, continue to be unseen or misrepresented on screens. READ MORE AT MCKINSEY & CO

From Women's History Month to global International Women's Day celebrations, March is a time to champion the power of women's voices and drive positive change. As you make your plans to celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, here are four ways to access inspiring content from the past and even find new voices. READ MORE AT GOOGLE VOICES