Category: Get the Facts

An April 2018 Harvard Business School working paper surveying multiple studies and data sources finds that first-generation immigrants represent about 25% of new business creation nationwide, and in some states, about 40%.  These figures far exceed the approximately 14% share that the foreign-born represent of the entire U.S. population.

While indications are that the smallest of these businesses are family operations offering fewer employee benefits and hiring fewer workers than native owned businesses, overall, immigrant owned businesses were somewhat more likely to survive and to grow than those created by U.S. natives during the years examined.  The data also indicated that first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs, compared to their U.S. native counterparts “are more likely to engage in R&D and innovation. Immigrant-owned firms are more likely to file for patents, and their innovation advantage is especially high within the college-educated group.”  The working paper notes that immigrant entrepreneurship is consistent internationally, with data from countries such as the U.K, Canada and Australia showing higher rates of business creation by first-generation immigrants than by their native born populations.

The working paper echoes findings from previous reports on the outsized influence of immigrant entrepreneurs, such as studies showing that nearly 50% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by first-generation immigrants or by their children.

Current U.S. policy trends discouraging immigrant entrepreneurship, and raising barriers to immigration to the U.S. generally, fly in the face of the long history, and continued prevalence, of immigrant business creation and the economic vibrancy that immigrants contribute to the U.S.

 

A December 2017 policy brief by the National Foundation for American Policy outlines current U.S. immigration policies, addresses and clarifies many of the myths and misrepresentations that feature in the current debates on immigration policy, and outlines the impact of immigrants on the U.S. both historically and presently.

In the run-up to his State of the Union address, President Trump issued a statement honoring the late Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas, who chaired the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. In that statement, and in his address, he implied that the Administration’s call to drastically reduce immigration to the U.S., particularly the family-based immigration that has been the cornerstone of our immigration policy for generations, aligns with that Commission’s recommendations. Here’s an informative, and informed, rebuttal by the Executive Director of that Commission.

New American Economy studied the economic impact of refugees and released its findings in this June 2017 report.   Additionally, a June 2017 working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that during their first 20 years here, refugees pay $21,000 more in taxes than they receive in services designed to help them start their lives over in the U.S.

1470 U.S. economists, including six Nobel laureates, and coming from academia, government, across the country, and across the political spectrum published a letter on April 12, 2017 to the Administration and Congress.  The letter underscores the overall and economic benefits of immigration to our country, and calls for action to update our immigration laws to meet the demands of a 21st century economy.