Press Release: New Report Shows That Immigration Revitalizes Communities by Preserving Thousands of U.S. Manufacturing Jobs and Increasing Housing Wealth

Analysis of U.S. Census and American Community Survey Data Shows 46 U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Are Created or Preserved for Every 1,000 Immigrants Living in a County

Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) and The Partnership for a New American Economy today released a new report with U.S. Census and American Community Survey data showing how immigration helps revitalize communities across the United States through the creation or preservation of manufacturing jobs, the increase in housing wealth, and heightened civic engagement.

The data show that immigrants play an outsize role in the preservation or creation of U.S. jobs—an important measure of community vitality—and make a particularly important impact in the manufacturing sector. For every 1,000 immigrants living in a county, 46 manufacturing jobs are created or preserved that would otherwise not exist or have moved elsewhere.

Immigrants are injecting new life into cities and rural areas, making once declining areas more attractive to the U.S.-born population. For every 1,000 immigrants that arrive to a county, 270 U.S.-born residents mover there in response. At the same time, the average immigrant who moves to a community raises the total value of housing wealth in his or her county by $92,800.

Naturalization matters to communities as well. Naturalized immigrants are more valuable contributors in the labor market, and outearn migrants who are not citizens by as much as 16 percent.

“This report is the latest piece of economic evidence showing that immigration helps drive job growth in our country,” said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “The evidence is now overwhelming – and yet too many in Washington are still dragging their feet on common-sense immigration reforms that would create jobs and help put more Americans back to work.” 

“We see the contributions of immigrants to our communities everyday. Yet again, this report shows how immigrants help keep our economy vibrant and strong,” says AS/COA President and CEO Susan Segal.

The data for this report was compiled by Professor Jacob Vigdor of Duke University.

Download the full report here. 

More Findings:

• The more than 40 million immigrants currently in the U.S. have created or preserved 1.8 million manufacturing jobs nationally.
• Attracting 100,000 new immigrants per year would preserve 4,600 American manufacturing jobs and grow U.S. housing wealth by $80 billion annually.
• Immigration has accounted for a commanding majority of job growth in four of the five U.S. counties that have experienced the greatest increase in manufacturing jobs since 1970, such as Harris County in Texas – home to Houston – where the increase of 43,299 manufacturing jobs since 1970 is attributable entirely to immigration.
• Estimates indicate that 40 percent of Los Angeles County’s manufacturing jobs would vanish without immigrants.
• The more than 40 million immigrants are responsible for an estimated $3.7 trillion boost to home equity. 

About Americas Society/Council of the Americas

Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) unite opinion leaders to exchange ideas and create solutions to the challenges of the Americas today. Americas Society (AS), the recipient of a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to produce this research, was established by David Rockefeller in 1965 and is the premier forum dedicated to education, debate and dialogue in the Americas. Council of the Americas (COA), affiliate organization to AS, is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. Recognizing the link between U.S. immigration and overall hemispheric relations, AS/COA launched its Integration and Immigration Initiative in 2007 to draw on its public–private convening power in order to bring together key constituencies in new gateway cities and to produce research on the link between changing demographics and economic competitiveness. Visit us at www.as-coa.org. 

About Partnership for a New American Economy

The Partnership for a New American Economy brings together more than 500 Republican, Democratic and Independent mayors and business leaders who support immigration reforms that will help create jobs for Americans today. The Partnership’s members include mayors of more than 35 million people nationwide and business leaders of companies that generate more than $1.5 trillion and employ more than 4 million people across all sectors of the economy, from Agriculture to Aerospace, Hospitality to High Tech and Media to Manufacturing. Partnership members understand that immigration is essential to maintaining the productive, diverse and flexible workforce that America needs to ensure prosperity over the coming generations. Learn more at www.RenewOurEconomy.org. 

This research was made possible with partial support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The opinions and views of the authors do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Fund. 

CONTACTS

Hanna Siegel, Partnership for a New American Economy: [email protected]
Adriana La Rotta, Americas Society/Council of the Americas: [email protected]
Evelyn Erskine, New York City Office of the Mayor: [email protected]