Economics of Immigration

How does immigration help the economy? Immigrants make a significant impact on state and local economies. Learn more about the contributions immigrants make as workers, taxpayers and consumers.

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Publication Date: 
February 2, 2002
U.S. officials expect this year's Winter Games to promote greater international cooperation and peace. Immigrant athletes realize their Olympic dreams as members of the U.S team.
For the undocumented in America there is little doubt that the iniquities of the father are visited upon the child. On November 7th, for instance, an astounding 71 percent of voters in Arizona passed...
America’s strength lies in its openness and dynamic character. Current concerns about the U.S. economy should not distract from an understanding that in the long term America’s economic success...
Immigration is inextricably part of the American national identity and always has been. Immigrants are an integral part of the structural fiber that has kept the great melting pot flowing with...
October 3, 2016

While the federal government is responsible for admitting immigrants to the U.S., immigrants live in states and local communities. And at the local level, immigrants are our neighbors, coworkers,...

September 30, 2016

California continues to lead the way on integrating its large immigrant community and protecting immigrants from the extreme consequences of federal immigration laws. On September 28, 2016,...

September 26, 2016
In an aging society such as ours, immigrants and their children are an integral part of our economic future.
September 22, 2016

Immigrants and their descendants make valuable contributions to the U.S. economy, according to a new report just released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine entitled...

September 21, 2016

This election, there has been much discussion about what to do about unauthorized immigration. While candidate Hillary Clinton proposes a plan to eventually legalize most undocumented immigrants,...

September 19, 2016

Americans hold dear the ideal that the United States is a nation of immigrants. In fact, most Americans can easily recount their own family’s immigration history, and while we may hold differing...

September 16, 2016

September 17 marks the day the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the U.S. Constitution. Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is dedicated to all U.S....

September 6, 2016

Serious economists know that immigrant and native-born workers cannot simply be swapped for one another like batteries. On average, immigrants and the native-born differ in terms of formal...

September 6, 2016

Serious economists know that immigrant and native-born workers cannot simply be swapped for one another like batteries. On average, immigrants and the native-born differ in terms of formal...

August 22, 2016

This year, nearly 50 foreign-born athletes proudly represented the U.S. as part of the Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro, and eight of them won medals. Kerron Clement, born in Trinidad and Tobago,...

April 22, 2019

Attending a four-year public college or university is out of reach for many students without U.S. citizenship. But thanks to a growing number of new state laws—which make certain students eligible...

April 15, 2019

The survival of the nation’s Social Security system depends upon the taxes paid by each new generation of workers. As older workers enter retirement and draw upon Social Security, the continued...

March 19, 2019

The Trump administration is set to issue a proposed rule that would prevent the spouses of certain high-skilled temporary foreign workers from getting jobs while they are in the United States. The...

January 15, 2019

Small and rural towns across America are increasingly faced with the opportunities and challenges that come with settling new immigrants. In nearly 3,000 rural American towns, the immigrant...

Publication Date: 
January 9, 2019
This fact sheet estimates the likely numbers of workers with TPS from these three countries, broken down by the states in which they reside and the industries in which they are employed.
December 6, 2018

Advocates of immigrant rights decry working in what feels like the age of the fact-free debate. A debate driven in large part by leaders willing to cherry-pick facts on immigration that encourage...

November 27, 2018

States and localities continue exploring policies and positions on immigration to serve the needs of their communities and, at times, respond to the aggressive immigration agenda touted by the...

November 21, 2018

“What if this is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?” asked Valerie Kaur in her famed “Sikh Prayer for America.” In this prayer, she contemplates an America that is not on...

November 12, 2018

The United States Armed Forces has done some of its greatest work when it has dismantled barriers to service and opened its ranks to Americans of different backgrounds and identities. Inclusivity...

November 8, 2018

Jeff Sessions resigned as Attorney General on Wednesday, less than two years after the Senate narrowly confirmed him to the post. Sessions’ tenure as the nation’s highest-ranking law enforcement...

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