While Congress debates immigration reform, new findings are being released supporting the idea that American businesses would profit from the passage of comprehensive immigration reform.
On Tuesday, September 10th, the Partnership for a New American Economy, in collaboration with Americas Society/Council of the America (AS/COA), released a new report called “Immigration and the Revival of American Cities.”
The report takes a deeper look into the data provided by the U.S. Census and American Community Survey to analyze immigration’s impact on communities across the United States — focusing on how immigration affects manufacturing jobs, housing wealth, and civic engagement in communities within the United States.
The findings of the report reaffirm beliefs touted by independent economists across the United States—immigration reform would benefit businesses across the United States.
Here are three key takeaways from the report business leaders should keep in mind:
Immigration assists in the creation and preservation of manufacturing jobs. The study shows that for every 1,000 immigrants in a county, 46 manufacturing jobs are created or preserved. Nationally, 1.8 million manufacturing jobs have been created or preserved by more than 40 million immigrants.
Immigration boosts the U.S. Housing market. According to the report, an increase of more than $3.7 trillion in U.S. Home equity has resulted from immigration. For each immigrant who moves to a new location, total housing wealth in the area raises in the county by an average of $92,000.
Immigrants are injecting new life into cities and rural areas. Immigrants are settling in many of the United States’ declining areas, bringing new enthusiasm into the communities. “Immigration and the Revival of American Cities” finds that in response to every 1,000 immigrants arriving in a county, 270 U.S.-born residents move there in response to increased demand for service-based businesses and the preservation of sectors like manufacturing.