Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U.S. census reports growth in Hispanic business
By Catherine McFadyen
Daily Mississippian (U. Mississippi)
03/23/2006

(U-WIRE) OXFORD, Miss. — A report released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States grew 31 percent between 1997 and 2002.

The report, "Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002," showed that this growth in Hispanic-owned businesses is three times that of the national average for all businesses. The report also noted that the nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses generated almost $222 billion in revenue, which is a 19 percent increase from 1997.

"The Economic Census gives an accurate picture of America's 23 million businesses. The growth we see in Hispanic-owned businesses illustrates the changing fabric of American's business and industry," Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon said in the report. "With Hispanic businesses among the fastest growing segments of our economy, this is a good indicator of how competitiveness is driving the American economy."

David Swanson, chair of the department of sociology and anthropology and the director of the center for population research at Ole Miss, reported similar results in a presentation to the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools in 2005. His data was taken from population information from a variety of southern states, including Mississippi.

Swanson's presentation showed a total increase of 34.3 percent in the Hispanic population of these states, making the Hispanic population one of the most rapidly increasing in the area. In the age group of 0-14, the increase was larger than any other population group, increasing by 26.14 percent, a stark contrast to the white population, which declined 2.59 percent for the same age group.

The prediction for the same groups until 2025 showed similar characteristics, with the Hispanic population being one of the most rapidly increasing groups and continuing the trend by larger margins in future years.

The states with the fastest rates of growth for Hispanic-owned firms between 1997 and 2002 included New York (7 percent), Rhode Island and Georgia (56 percent each), Nevada and South Carolina (48 percent each).

With the dramatic increase in the Hispanic population, the increase in Hispanic-owned businesses is not surprising. Though Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California are the states where Hispanic immigration is thought to be the highest, the increase in the Hispanic population and in Hispanic-owned businesses can be seen throughout the United States as shown by the Census release.

Though Mississippi has a Hispanic population of only 1.4 percent, which is much lower than the national 12.5 percent, the Hispanic population has increased over 60 percent in Mississippi since 1980, according to the 2000 Census information for Mississippi. If this trend continues, Mississippi's Hispanic population will continue to increase in the future and so will the number of Hispanic-owned businesses.

In Oxford, the increase in the Hispanic population has led to church services in Spanish at some churches and to an increase in Hispanic-owned businesses.

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