A version of this article appeared on the website Silicon India. You can read the full post at http://www.siliconindia.com/immigration/viewpoint/10-reasons-why-us-should-welcome-immigrants-vid-75.html/1
Ten Reasons Why the U.S. Should Welcome Immigrants
1. They Boost the Economy
Immigrants generate revenue which works as a direct fiscal benefit for the country. George Borjas, the nation's leading immigration economist, estimates that the presence of immigrant workers makes the U.S. economy an estimated 11 percent larger ($1.6 trillion) each year.
2. Entrepreneurial By Nature
Immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start their own business venture than non-immigrants, according to a study conducted by Small Business Administration. This creates jobs that complement those of native-born workers. Immigrant-owned businesses employ an estimated 4.7 million people, said a survey by the Fiscal Policy Institute, and these small businesses generated more than $776 billion annually.
3. Immigrants Create Job Opportunities
Immigrants create jobs for native-born workers because they tend to have different levels of education, work in different occupations, specialize in different tasks. Economist Giovanni Peri says that “immigrants expand the U.S. economy’s productive capacity, stimulate investment, and promote specialization that in the long run boosts productivity,”
4. Immigrants are Innovative
Immigrants are synonymous with innovation and they are responsible for several start ups in the U.S. They have started 25 percent of public U.S. companies that were backed by venture capital investors, according to the National Venture Capital Association. This list includes Google, eBay, Yahoo!, Sun Microsystems, and Intel.
5. Deportation is Expensive for the Government
Expelling immigrants from the country would cost the government $2.6 trillion since it costs the government $8,000 to deport each person, says CNBC. So it becomes essential for the government to plan the deportation wisely and include only convicts with repeated criminal records.
6. Immigrants Pay Into Social Security
Immigration reform would help boost Social Security because a higher number of legal workers would mean more people contributing payroll taxes to its trust fund. An analysis by the Social Security administration reported that undocumented workers contribute to $15 billion to social security.
7. Immigrants Create Demand for Local Consumer Goods.
The Immigration Policy Center estimates that the purchasing power of Latinos and Asians, many of whom are immigrants, alone will reach $1.5 trillion and $775 billion, respectively, by 2015.
8. Immigrants More Likely to be High-Skilled Scientists and Engineers.
Immigrants represent slightly fewer than 14 percent of the resident working population holding a bachelor’s degree or a higher degree, but among this group they represent 29 percent of scientists, according to the National Survey of College Graduates. They also represent 50 percent of PhDs working in math and computer science occupations, and 57 percent of PhDs working in engineering occupations.
9. Immigrants Boost Tourism and Culture in America
Immigrants also add to tourism and help in cultural growth of the country. Travel and tourism represent the largest service-export industry in the U.S. China, Brazil, and India alone represent approximately 40 percent of the world’s population and by 2017 the number of travelers from those countries is expected to increase by 259 percent, 83 percent, and 47 percent respectively stated reports by the White House.
10) Immigrants Create Their Own Jobs
According the U.S. Department of Labor, 7.5 percent of the foreign born are self-employed compared to 6.6 percent among the native-born.
Source: Silicon India
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