|
WASHINGTON (AP) - Fueled by a rapidly expanding Hispanic consumer market, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses is growing much faster than the national rate for other companies.
Hispanics owned nearly 1.6 million businesses in 2002, a 31 percent increase from five years earlier, according to a report Tuesday by the Census Bureau. The number of all U.S. companies grew by 10 percent, to about 23 million, during the same period.
"The Hispanic consumer market is exploding," said Michael Barrera, president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "Who knows that consumer market best?"
|