Recession slows growth in Idaho's Hispanic buying power

A persistent rise in the economic influence of Idaho's Hispanics ran into the recession in 2010, and for the first time in two decades Hispanic per capita buying power fell, according to a new report from the Idaho Department of Labor.

Buying power is the after-tax personal income people have to spend on virtually everything from necessities like food, clothing and housing to luxuries like recreation equipment and vacations. It does not include money borrowed or saved from previous years or spent by tourists from other states or countries.

Using estimates from the Selig Center for Economic Growth and statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, the report found Idaho's total Hispanic buying power increased 5.2 percent from 2009 to almost $2.8 billion in 2010 - three times the increase posted by the rest of the state's population.

In Kootenai County, Hispanic buying power grew 2.6 percent to $100,546.

In Benewah County, it fell 13.3 percent to $3,237.

In Bonner County, it also fell 11.3 percent to $14,506.

But because Idaho's Hispanic population grew faster at 6.4 percent, their per capita buying power fell by a little more than 1 percent from $15,868 in 2009 to $15,687 in 2010.

Comparatively strong population growth, however, was primarily the reason Hispanics increased their share of Idaho's total buying power to 6 percent, up two-tenths of a point from 2009.

Nationally, Hispanics in 31 other states saw even stronger economic growth than in Idaho.

Idaho's non-Hispanics saw total buying power increase by 1.8 percent from 2009 to $43.2 billion - closer to the middle of the states where 21 had lower growth rates. Per capita non-Hispanic buying power rose just slightly because the non-Hispanic population grew by only 0.9 percent. Non-Hispanic per capita buying power was double the Hispanics at nearly $31,000.

Reflecting that disparity, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates 30 percent of Idaho's Hispanics lived in poverty last year, compared to less than 14 percent of non-Hispanics.

Between 1990 and 2009, Hispanic buying power increased 565 percent while the Hispanic population rose 212 percent.

Idaho's Hispanic buying power has increased faster than population growth every year through 2008. In 2009 there was a slight shift in the other direction but not enough to bring per capita buying power down. That differential widened in 2010, causing the decline.