Providence Business News: “Report: R.I. home to 104K immigrants”

A new report released this week shows that Rhode Island is home to nearly 140,000 immigrants, and that they are mostly of working age, and work in the manufacturing and software industries.

That number grows to more than 200,000 when the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area is included. Again, most of the immigrants in the metro area are of working age, defined as between 25 and 64. Most work in administration support and manufacturing.

The report features an interactive map, “Map the Impact,” from the New American Economy, a group that brings together more than 500 Republican, Democratic and Independent mayors and business leaders who support immigration reforms that they say will help create jobs in America. It shows the contributions of immigrants in all 50 states and the 55 largest metropolitan districts, as well as 435 congressional districts.

“This data puts the economic power of America’s immigrants in stark relief,” John Feinblatt, chairman of New American Economy, said in a statement. “Across the map, and in every industry, immigrants strengthen the economies of big cities and small towns alike.”

The report estimates that there are 34.2 million working-age immigrants in the country.

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