Immigration and the Economy
FACT: Immigrants Help Our Economy
Immigrants Contribute to the U.S.
* "I have always thought that under the conditions such as what we now confront, we should be carefully focused on the contribution which skilled people from abroad, unskilled people from abroad, what they can contribute to this country as they have for generation after generation."
--- Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, July 18, 1999.
Immigrants Contribute to the Economy
* The National Academy of Sciences found that immigrants add $10 billion a year to the economy
* Immigrants add between $20,000 and $80,000 to the economy per person
Immigrants Pay Taxes
* Immigrants pay $133 billion in personal income taxes
* Businesses owned by immigrants pay an additional $29 billion in taxes
* Immigrants pay more in taxes than they get in benefits
Immigrants Keep Inflation Down
* Federal Reserve Board Chairman Greenspan testified before Congress that "if we can open up our immigration rolls significantly, that will clearly make [inflationary pressure] less and less of a potential problem."
Immigrants and Education
FACT: Immigrants Are Raising Educational Standards
Immigrants play a small role in school enrollment. The nation's public and private school enrollment is expected to hit a record 53.2 million during the 1999 academic year. But the baby boom echo, expanded pre-school programs and the recognition of the importance of education are the leading factors for this dramatic hike in school enrollment. Immigration is a minor player in the increases.
Immigrants are above school age. More than 70 percent of immigrants are over 18. In other words, they don't use our public and private elementary schools. Almost two-thirds of recent immigrants (63.2 percent) have a high school degree.
Immigrants are well educated. The median level of education for newly arriving immigrants is 10 years, all of which was received abroad. Seventeen percent of recent immigrants had bachelor's degrees, and 12 percent have graduate degrees. Only 16 percent of U.S. citizens are college graduates, and only eight percent have completed graduate school.
Test scores are rising. Critics say immigration over the past decade has damaged America's educational standards. Yet this decade has seen the highest-ever rise in scores on a leading college placement exam. Contrast that to the 1960s and 1970s - the decades immigration critics call the "golden age" of immigration - when college entrance test scores fell by 2.3 points. During the 1990s, student achievement on national tests in math, science, and reading also have increased.
More students are graduating from high school. During the 1986-87 academic year, 2,959,000 students received high school diplomas. The following year, 2,959,000 students graduated from high school. Those numbers are expected to increase by 45.2 percent over the next eight years. Thus, charges that immigrants are driving down high school graduation rates are patently false.
Sources: "The Baby Boom Echo: No End in Sight," U.S. Department of Education, Aug. 19, 1999; "A Fiscal Portrait of the New Americans," Cato Institute, July 1998; "Scores Increase," American College Testing, Aug. 17, 1999; National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1986-1997; "Graduates of public and private high schools," U.S. Department of Education, Aug. 17 1999.
Social Impact of Immigrants
FACT: Immigrants improve U.S. social situation.
Immigrants contribute to the American economy. Immigrants and their children raise the incomes of American workers by $10 billion each year. Immigrants pay $80,000 more in taxes than they receive in total benefits over their lifetimes. One landmark study reported, “All of these findings lead to one inescapable conclusion about the fiscal impact of the new immigrants: They do not cost — they pay. The net fiscal impact is positive.”
Immigrants create jobs. Numerous studies have shown that most jobs are created by small and medium-sized businesses. More immigrants start small businesses than do natural-born citizens. Nearly half of all inner-city firms are owned by immigrants. Twenty-three of the 200 Best Small Companies listed by Forbes Magazine in a recent issue were immigrant-owned.
Immigrants have high incomes. Immigrants have average adjusted gross incomes of $40,502, and average taxable income of $32,585. The averages for natural-born citizens are adjusted gross income of $35,249, and taxable income of $27,076. Immigrants pay an average of $6,580 a year in federal taxes, while natural-born citizens pay an average of $5,070 in federal taxes. Business owned by immigrants pay $29 billion a year in taxes.
Immigrants keep Social Security afloat. Without the contributions of immigrants, the unfunded liability of the Social Security system from 1988 to 2002 would be $500 billion higher. If you look at the unfunded liability through the year 2072, it would be $2 trillion higher without the economic contributions of immigrants.
Immigrants don’t strain healthcare. A recent study reports that children in immigrant families appear to experience better health than do children in natural-born families. The same study notes that infant mortality rates are lower for some immigrants than the rates of infants of natural-born women.
Immigrants don’t abuse welfare. Even before the passage of the 1996 immigration laws, immigrants are less likely than native-born citizens to receive welfare. Four percent of non-refugee immigrants received welfare in 1990; 4.2 percent of natural-born citizens received welfare benefits that same year. Among long-term immigrants (those who have been in the U.S. for at least a decade), 3.2 percent were on welfare in 1990. Among native-born citizens, 3.2 percent were on welfare over the same period.
Sources: “A Fiscal Portrait of the Newest Americans,” Cato Institute, July 1998; “The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration,” National Research Council, 1997; “Emerging Health Issues of Children in Immigrant Families,” Dr. Fernando A. Guerra, July 16, 1999.
Courtesey
© 2000, American Immigration Lawyers Association
© 2000, Jackson & Hertogs LLP, ail.fac.soc
AND WHAT DO WE GET IN RETURN? DELAYS AND MORE DELAYS.............
FACT: Immigrants Help Our Economy
Immigrants Contribute to the U.S.
* "I have always thought that under the conditions such as what we now confront, we should be carefully focused on the contribution which skilled people from abroad, unskilled people from abroad, what they can contribute to this country as they have for generation after generation."
--- Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, July 18, 1999.
Immigrants Contribute to the Economy
* The National Academy of Sciences found that immigrants add $10 billion a year to the economy
* Immigrants add between $20,000 and $80,000 to the economy per person
Immigrants Pay Taxes
* Immigrants pay $133 billion in personal income taxes
* Businesses owned by immigrants pay an additional $29 billion in taxes
* Immigrants pay more in taxes than they get in benefits
Immigrants Keep Inflation Down
* Federal Reserve Board Chairman Greenspan testified before Congress that "if we can open up our immigration rolls significantly, that will clearly make [inflationary pressure] less and less of a potential problem."
Immigrants and Education
FACT: Immigrants Are Raising Educational Standards
Immigrants play a small role in school enrollment. The nation's public and private school enrollment is expected to hit a record 53.2 million during the 1999 academic year. But the baby boom echo, expanded pre-school programs and the recognition of the importance of education are the leading factors for this dramatic hike in school enrollment. Immigration is a minor player in the increases.
Immigrants are above school age. More than 70 percent of immigrants are over 18. In other words, they don't use our public and private elementary schools. Almost two-thirds of recent immigrants (63.2 percent) have a high school degree.
Immigrants are well educated. The median level of education for newly arriving immigrants is 10 years, all of which was received abroad. Seventeen percent of recent immigrants had bachelor's degrees, and 12 percent have graduate degrees. Only 16 percent of U.S. citizens are college graduates, and only eight percent have completed graduate school.
Test scores are rising. Critics say immigration over the past decade has damaged America's educational standards. Yet this decade has seen the highest-ever rise in scores on a leading college placement exam. Contrast that to the 1960s and 1970s - the decades immigration critics call the "golden age" of immigration - when college entrance test scores fell by 2.3 points. During the 1990s, student achievement on national tests in math, science, and reading also have increased.
More students are graduating from high school. During the 1986-87 academic year, 2,959,000 students received high school diplomas. The following year, 2,959,000 students graduated from high school. Those numbers are expected to increase by 45.2 percent over the next eight years. Thus, charges that immigrants are driving down high school graduation rates are patently false.
Sources: "The Baby Boom Echo: No End in Sight," U.S. Department of Education, Aug. 19, 1999; "A Fiscal Portrait of the New Americans," Cato Institute, July 1998; "Scores Increase," American College Testing, Aug. 17, 1999; National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1986-1997; "Graduates of public and private high schools," U.S. Department of Education, Aug. 17 1999.
Social Impact of Immigrants
FACT: Immigrants improve U.S. social situation.
Immigrants contribute to the American economy. Immigrants and their children raise the incomes of American workers by $10 billion each year. Immigrants pay $80,000 more in taxes than they receive in total benefits over their lifetimes. One landmark study reported, “All of these findings lead to one inescapable conclusion about the fiscal impact of the new immigrants: They do not cost — they pay. The net fiscal impact is positive.”
Immigrants create jobs. Numerous studies have shown that most jobs are created by small and medium-sized businesses. More immigrants start small businesses than do natural-born citizens. Nearly half of all inner-city firms are owned by immigrants. Twenty-three of the 200 Best Small Companies listed by Forbes Magazine in a recent issue were immigrant-owned.
Immigrants have high incomes. Immigrants have average adjusted gross incomes of $40,502, and average taxable income of $32,585. The averages for natural-born citizens are adjusted gross income of $35,249, and taxable income of $27,076. Immigrants pay an average of $6,580 a year in federal taxes, while natural-born citizens pay an average of $5,070 in federal taxes. Business owned by immigrants pay $29 billion a year in taxes.
Immigrants keep Social Security afloat. Without the contributions of immigrants, the unfunded liability of the Social Security system from 1988 to 2002 would be $500 billion higher. If you look at the unfunded liability through the year 2072, it would be $2 trillion higher without the economic contributions of immigrants.
Immigrants don’t strain healthcare. A recent study reports that children in immigrant families appear to experience better health than do children in natural-born families. The same study notes that infant mortality rates are lower for some immigrants than the rates of infants of natural-born women.
Immigrants don’t abuse welfare. Even before the passage of the 1996 immigration laws, immigrants are less likely than native-born citizens to receive welfare. Four percent of non-refugee immigrants received welfare in 1990; 4.2 percent of natural-born citizens received welfare benefits that same year. Among long-term immigrants (those who have been in the U.S. for at least a decade), 3.2 percent were on welfare in 1990. Among native-born citizens, 3.2 percent were on welfare over the same period.
Sources: “A Fiscal Portrait of the Newest Americans,” Cato Institute, July 1998; “The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration,” National Research Council, 1997; “Emerging Health Issues of Children in Immigrant Families,” Dr. Fernando A. Guerra, July 16, 1999.
Courtesey
© 2000, American Immigration Lawyers Association
© 2000, Jackson & Hertogs LLP, ail.fac.soc
AND WHAT DO WE GET IN RETURN? DELAYS AND MORE DELAYS.............
