New Research Shows Immigrants Contributed $1.2 Billion to the Tyler Metro GDP

The new American Immigration Council report underscores the critical role immigrants play in the Tyler and Texas economy

TYLER, TX – New research on New Americans in Tyler was released by the American Immigration Council through the Global Talent Chamber Network—a network of chambers of commerce from across the country who see immigration as an economic growth strategy—in partnership with the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce and Tyler Hispanic Business Alliance.. 

The new report underscores the crucial role immigrants play in the Rose Capital of America and is part of the Texas business community’s effort to educate local communities about the crucial role immigrants play in the local economy and workforce. 

“Immigration is part of the Texas story; we are pleased to receive this new research and learn about the positive impact immigrants are having on Tyler,” said Henry Bell, president of the Tyler Chamber of Commerce.

Nancy Rangel, president, and CEO of the Tyler Hispanic Business Alliance added, “Immigrants play a critical role in our economy and workforce locally and nationwide. We look forward to listening to the recent findings over immigration in our Tyler region.”

“It is wonderful to see the business community from every corner of the state coming together to discuss the outsized positive impact immigrants have on our local communities,” said Chelsie Kramer, Texas state organizer for the American Immigration Council and Texans for Economic Growth.

Key findings:

• Immigrants foster an entrepreneurial spirit. In 2019, despite making up 8.5% of the Tyler metro area’s overall population, 17.5% of immigrants were entrepreneurs, meaning immigrants were 49.5% more likely to be entrepreneurs than their U.S.-born counterparts.  

• Immigrants are filling critical workforce gaps. Although immigrants made up 8.5% of the region’s overall population, they represented 12.4% of its employed labor force, including 30.5% of construction workers, 19.0% of professional service workers, and 15.7% of all workers in the manufacturing industry in 2019. 

• Immigrants are bringing much-needed talent. In 2019, 17.5% of immigrants in the Tyler metro area aged 25 and older held at least a bachelor’s degree and 6.4% held an advanced degree (a master’s, professional, or doctoral degree).  

• Immigrants help create or preserve local manufacturing jobs in the Tyler metro area. Immigrants strengthened the local job market by allowing companies to keep jobs on U.S. soil, helping create or preserve 900 local manufacturing jobs that would have otherwise vanished or moved elsewhere by 2019. 

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About the American Immigration Council

The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. The Council brings together problem solvers and employs four coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. In January 2022, the Council and New American Economy merged to combine a broad suite of advocacy tools to better expand and protect immigrants' rights, more fully ensure their ability to succeed economically, and help make the communities they settle in more welcoming. Follow the latest Council news and information on ImmigrationImpact.com and Twitter @immcouncil. 

About Texans for Economic Growth

Texans for Economic Growth is a coalition of more than 145 Texas business leaders and associations dedicated to recognizing and supporting immigrants' positive impact on the Texas economy as business owners, taxpayers, and consumers. With its launch on February 26, 2019, the coalition released the Texas Compact on Immigration, a set of principles signed by more than 145 Texas business leaders and groups to guide the immigration discussion at the state and federal levels. Texans for Economic Growth supports common-sense federal immigration reforms and statewide policies that recognize the valuable contributions immigrants make to the state. Learn more at txcompact.org.