#immigration #prosperity #workforce
Believe it or not, to quote the first line of a newspaper editorial, “immigrants are not the enemy.”
The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville commented on reports compiled by the bipartisan Partnership for A New American Economy showing how immigrants are contributing to the workforce, tax rolls and the overall economy, the editorial reads. It was published in the Aug. 14, 2016, edition.
In Tennessee, the newspaper says, 300,000 residents are foreign-born, or nearly 5 percent of the state’s population. But, they make up 6 percent of the state’s workforce, the editorial says. In 1990, immigrants made up only 1.2 percent of Tennessee’s population.
The editorial cites some notable stats from the report:
• Immigrants annually earn $7.9 billion, pay $493 million in taxes and have the spending power of $5.9 billion.
• They make up 7.8 percent of entrepreneurs.
• They are 32 percent more likely to work than the native-born population (57.8 percent of employed immigrants vs. 43.7 percent of employed natives.)
• Immigrants make up 7 percent of jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (the STEM skills).
Meanwhile, in an article published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Aug. 15, 2016, Tim Henderson of the Tribune News Service writes that many officials in small towns nationwide that have lost population in recent years are asking that refugees from the Middle East and elsewhere be relocated to their towns to take jobs they can’t fill, live in apartments and houses that are now vacant and to shop in local stores. The refugees will take the places of native-born residents who’ve moved elsewhere in large numbers.
Immigrants have basically gotten a bad reputation. Some see them as moochers, stealers of benefits and taking opportunities away from native-born Americans. The report, on which the Tennessean editorial was based, tells a different tale.
“(Undocumented workers) are demonized for their legal status, but overall they are giving back more to society than they are getting back,” the editorial says.
Undocumented workers, “though they don’t directly benefit from federal and state aid, but they annually earn $2.1 billion, pay $250 million in state and federal taxes and have $1.8 billion in spending power, “ the editorial says.
Immigrants do jobs native-born Americans won’t do. They are doing many highly technical jobs – not just manual labor – that relatively few native-born Americans are qualified for. Many get their training here, and overstay their visas.
The economic partnership that compiled the Tennessean report is aiming for sensible immigration reform.
It’s easy to blame immigrants, or something else, for one’s hard times.
It’s much more difficult to look for one’s own solutions to the hard times.
If you are looking for something to come into YOUR life that will change things for the betterment of you, there are many such vehicles out there. To check out one of the best, message me. You’ll see people from various races, and nearly all backgrounds, who have taken a step to turn their own lives around.
The economy is changing in ways that we can’t revert. One either has to accept that change and ensure that they can have what they want as the economy changes, or they can blame various people and institutions for their hardship.
If one thinks about it, one can only hope we all choose to accept and ensure. The next time you are working with, or being serviced by, someone who may not look or talk the way you do, know that the person is contributing greatly to the economy, and to the well-being of all of us.
Peter