Rx for St. Louis Economy: More Immigration
Date: June 20, 2012
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 20, 2012
If St. Louis hopes to grow its economy in the 21st century, it’s going to need more people like Carmen Jacob, Rao Chilakala, and the 75 researchers at the Danforth Plant Science Center who were born in other countries but live and work here.
That’s the thrust of a new study issued Tuesday by economic development officials in St. Louis and St. Louis County, arguing that a big reason the region has fallen behind many other big cities is the strikingly low rate of immigration here.
About 126,000 St. Louisans, less than 5 percent of the region’s population, were born overseas. That rate is four or five times less than most of the rest of the nation’s 20 biggest metro areas, the study found.