Business and the Workforce
Immigrants not only bring diverse skills and perspectives to the U.S. workforce, they often fill employment gaps in crucial fields. We advocate for expanded work visas and related programs so our labor force can continue to benefit from immigrant workers and remain competitive in the global economy
Supreme Court’s DOMA Decision Good for Economic Competitiveness
In the global economy of the twenty-first century, a globally mobile workforce is critical to remaining competitive. Yet for LGBT employees, their families, and their employers, significant barriers remain in place. The Supreme Court’s June 26 decision in United States v. Windsor finding part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional has clear and direct benefits for married same-sex couples, including bi-national couples. But beyond the benefits to married couples themselves, the Court’s decision is also a win for economic competitiveness. Specifically, the DOMA ruling makes U.S. businesses more globally competitive because they now can attract and retain foreign-born employees who want to stay in the United States with their same-sex spouses. Read More
The economic benefits of free trade in people
Linda Nazareth, The Globe and Mail If you believe that free trade in goods and services enhances growth (I do, as do all but a seriously select group of economists), then it is not much of a stretch to say that free trade in people should do the same thing. Read More
Local Welcoming Initiatives Help Build a Nation of Neighbors
While attention has been focused on federal immigration efforts these last few months, states and cities continue to encourage and promote immigration as well. From well-established programs like Welcoming America and its many state-level affiliates, Cities of Migration, the Building Resilient Regions research group, and the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, to new programs like the Welcoming Cities and Counties initiative, the impetus to invite immigrants into our communities continues to grow. Read More
Immigrants are Key Driver of U.S. Talent and Economic Competitiveness
U.S. workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have been important contributors to American innovation, job creation, rising incomes, and global economic competitiveness throughout the years. And not surprisingly, immigrants have played a critical role in American innovation through STEM fields and all parts of the U.S. economy. A new report by Gordon Hanson (University of California, San Diego) and Matthew Slaughter (Dartmouth) describes these important relationships between talent, economic competitiveness, and immigration in the United States. In their paper, the authors present data in support of three critical points: Read More
Immigrants Boost Economic Vitality through the Housing Market
Abundant research shows that immigration is a net benefit to the United States’ economy. It leads to higher wages, business formation, job creation, and greater innovation – nationally and locally. Foreign workers who immigrate to the U.S. help alleviate labor force gaps left by a workforce increasingly nearing and entering retirement age. Furthermore, immigrants help fulfill growing healthcare needs of an aging population. In addition to these positive benefits of immigration, the favorable effect immigrant home-buyers have on the housing market is another important economic impact. Indeed, new research from the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and the Partnership for a New American Economy describes how the 40 million immigrants residing in the United States added $3.7 trillion to housing wealth in the U.S. The research, prepared by Jacob Vigdor at Duke University, uses county-level data on population and housing from the U.S. Census Bureau and American Community Survey from 1970 to 2010. The results show that immigration led to a boost in home values, particularly in neighborhoods hit hardest by the U.S. housing bust. Read More
For Indian engineers, H-1B visa is key to career growth
Rama Lakshmi, The Washington Post BANGALORE, India — For the past three years, 32-year-old Jagadish Kumar has worked in India testing software systems before they are installed in slot machines in American casinos. Now the curly-haired, round-eyed Indian software engineer is weeks away from appearing for a U.S. Consulate visa… Read More
Intro: Entrepreneurship
Immigrants have consistently demonstrated a strong entrepreneurial spirit and propensity to create new businesses. For example, immigrants are more than twice as likely as native-born citizens to start new businesses, and 28 percent of all U.S. companies started in 2011 had immigrant founders – despite immigrants comprising roughly 13 percent of the… Read More
Immigrants and Their Children Fill Gaps Left by Aging American Workforce
Over the next two decades, as the baby boom generation continues entering retirement, we will experience the largest exodus from the workforce by any generational cohort in American history. This wave of retirees will create a labor force deficit among the millions of jobs baby boomers depart from on top of new job growth industries create. Amid this great demographic shift, immigrants and their children are poised to play a critical role in filling workforce gaps left by massive baby boom generation retirements over the next twenty years, as a new forward-looking report from the Center for American Progress describes. Read More
Tech firms launching ‘Keep Us Here’ project to build support for immigration bill
The Washington Post As the Senate begins debating a bipartisan immigration bill this week, a coalition of technology firms and larger special interest groups is launching a new way for people to directly contact lawmakers as the debate continues. Engine Advocacy, a coalition of tech firms including Google, Firefox and… Read More
Allies, Not Enemies: How Latino Immigration Boosts African American Employment and Wages
Latino immigrants and African Americans fill complementary roles in the labor market—they are not simply substitutes for one another. Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
