A new Pew research study found 12 percent of small business owners nationwide are Hispanic. But it also found their revenue is lagging behind the national average at only 3.6 percent.
James Garcia of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said small business owners in Arizona face additional challenges.
“The lingering impact of not just the recession but also the immigration issue. And we know that of Hispanic entrepreneurs one quarter of those are immigrants. And we can’t have a situation in which we are attacking immigrants because if we do that we directly attack our own economy,” Garcia said.
The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce releases its economic report Sept. 23, and Garcia predicts the gap will narrow as the purchasing power of Hispanic Arizonans continues to grow.
