US immigration is directly in line with economic growth

December 02 2009 by Liam Clifford

US immigration is directly linked to economic output says report

According to a report released this week, immigrants in the US are contributing to the local economy in an exact ratio to the proportion of the population they take up.

The report by the Fiscal Policy Institute says the 1-to-1 population and economic ratio is consistent across the 25 large-metro areas the report studied.

The research focussed on tax, budget and economic issues, it was found that US immigrants, regardless of immigrant status, made up approximately 12 per cent of a metro-area’s gross population and generated approximately 12 per cent of its economic output. This would equate to the sum of all workers’ yearly income.

The study determined that immigrant workers accounted for 14 per cent of the gross labor market and that these workers also filled well-paying occupations just as successfully, constituting 13 per cent of skilled professions, such as engineers, doctors and lawyers.
US immigrants that filled these highly skilled occupations also usually earned more than their US-born contemporaries.

The report shows that economic growth is directly related to growth in US immigration, this is attributed to immigrants being of working age and the higher share in the labor market offsetting the lower paid immigrants.

Joy Margheim, an analyst for Oregon Center for Public Policy said

"I don't think we acknowledge that we have immigrant workers at all sides of the income spectrum. This reminds us that immigration restrictions would affect a lot of other occupations. Immigrant workers are far more closely woven into the fabric of our economy than we recognize."

It is widely anticipated that Barack Obama will address the issue of US immigration reform before the end of the year.

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