By Jason Furman, Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, and Danielle Gray, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.
America is a nation of immigrants. Our American journey and our success would simply not be possible without the generations of immigrants who have come to our shores from every corner of the globe. It is helpful to take a moment to reflect on the important contributions by the generations of immigrants who have helped us build our economy, and made America the economic engine of the world.
How do immigrants strengthen the U.S. economy? Below is our top 10 list for ways immigrants help to grow the American economy:
- Immigrants start businesses. According to the Small Business Administration,
immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start a business in the United
States than non-immigrants, and 18 percent of all small business owners in
the United States are immigrants.
- Immigrant-owned businesses create jobs for American
workers. According to the Fiscal Policy
Institute, small businesses owned by immigrants employed an estimated 4.7
million people in 2007, and according to the latest estimates, these small
businesses generated more than $776 billion annually.
- Immigrants are also more likely to create their own
jobs. According the U.S. Department
of Labor, 7.5 percent of the foreign born are self-employed compared to
6.6 percent among the native-born.
- Immigrants develop cutting-edge technologies and
companies. According to the National
Venture Capital Association, immigrants have started 25 percent of public
U.S. companies that were backed by venture capital investors. This list
includes Google, eBay, Yahoo!, Sun Microsystems, and Intel.
- Immigrants are our engineers, scientists, and
innovators. According
to the Census Bureau, despite making up only 16 percent of the resident
population holding a bachelor's degree or higher, immigrants represent 33
percent of engineers, 27 percent of mathematicians, statisticians, and
computer scientist, and 24 percent of physical scientists. Additionally,
according to the Partnership for a New American Economy, in 2011,
foreign-born inventors were credited with contributing to more than 75
percent of patents issued to the top 10 patent-producing universities.
- Immigration boosts earning for American workers. Increased immigration to the United States has
increased the earnings of Americans with more than a high school degree.
Between 1990 and 2004, increased immigration was correlated with
increasing earnings of Americans by 0.7 percent and is expected to
contribute to an increase of 1.8 percent over the long-term, according to
a study by the University of California at Davis.
- Immigrants boost demand for local consumer goods. The Immigration Policy Center estimates that the
purchasing power of Latinos and Asians, many of whom are immigrants, alone
will reach $1.5 trillion and $775 billion, respectively, by 2015.
- Immigration reform legislation like the DREAM Act
reduces the deficit. According
to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, under the 2010
House-passed version of the DREAM Act, the federal deficit would be
reduced by $2.2 billion over ten years because of increased tax revenues.
- Comprehensive immigration reform would create jobs. Comprehensive immigration reform could support and
create up to 900,000 new jobs within three years of reform from the
increase in consumer spending, according to the Center for American
Progress.
- Comprehensive immigration reform would increase America's GDP.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that even under low investment assumptions, comprehensive immigration reform would increase GDP by between 0.8 percent and 1.3 percent from 2012 to 2016.
The lesson of these 236 years is clear – immigration makes America stronger. Immigration makes us more prosperous. And immigration positions America to lead in the 21st century. And these young men and women are testaments to that. No other nation in the world welcomes so many new arrivals. No other nation constantly renews itself, refreshes itself with the hopes, and the drive, and the optimism, and the dynamism of each new generation of immigrants. You are all one of the reasons that America is exceptional. You're one of the reasons why, even after two centuries, America is always young, always looking to the future, always confident that our greatest days are still to come.
We celebrate the contributions of all Americans to building our nation and its economy, including the generations of immigrants.
Email from Julie Chavez Rodriguez
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