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There are 526,000 immigrants living on Long Island, making up 18 percent of the region’s population and 20 percent of the economic output of Long Islanders. Half of immigrants overall (51 percent) work in white-collar jobs, the study found, and the large majority (61 percent) live in families earning over $80,000 a year. Immigrants represent significant numbers of the people in more highly paid jobs such as professionals (23 percent), technicians (24 percent), and registered nurses pharmacists and health therapists (23 percent), as well as significant numbers in less well-paid jobs such as construction laborers (32 percent), food preparation services workers (33 percent), and sales clerks and cashiers (21 percent).
The report also includes tabulations of a Migration Policy Institute analysis estimating the number of unauthorized immigrants on Long Island to be 98,000—48,000 in Nassau and 50,000 in Suffolk. The analysis shows that a quarter of unauthorized immigrants work in construction and the other three quarters work in jobs from food services to retail to child care and more.
This report updates our 2011 report, New Americans on Long Island: A Vital Sixth of the Economy.
During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers have an opportunity to enhance the already important contributions immigrants make in our state. As the Legislature considers funding for schools, health care and other services, along with other policies, it is important to understand how immigrants play a major role in Washington state’s economy and society.
Immigrants are an important part of the fabric of our society, making our state more culturally rich and economically vibrant. Like so many new Washingtonians before them, they come from all regions of the world in search of opportunity.
The majority of immigrants in our state – who represent one in six workers (17 percent) – are from Mexico, the Philippines, Canada, Vietnam and Korea. (1) Immigrants – whether naturalized citizens, lawfully present, or undocumented – play a significant and growing role in Washington state’s economy. As 13 percent of the total Washington state population, immigrants’ share of total annual economic output is 14 percent.
Immigrants are a little more likely to own businesses than their U.S.-born counterparts, but they are a lot more likely to own Main Street businesses such as grocery stores, restaurants, and barber shops, finds a new study released today by the Fiscal Policy Institute and Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Immigrants make up 16 percent of the labor force and 18 percent of business owners, but 28 percent of Main Street businesses (defined as retail, food services and accommodation, and neighborhood services such as nail salons, beauty shops, and gas stations).
“These are types of businesses that don’t often get a lot of attention from economic development officials. But anyone thinking about economic growth should pay attention: these businesses play a big role in neighborhood revitalization, and they can be an important economic step up for entrepreneurs,” says David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Immigration Research Initiative at the Fiscal Policy Institute and author of the report.
The report includes data on the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country, and focuses in depth on three case studies that hone in on ways state and local government can help make the most of of immigrant entrepreneurship: Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Nashville.
Immigrant households are significant contributors to Virginia’s economy and help the state outperform the country as a whole in education, labor force participation, and household income.
Almost 40 percent of foreign-born Virginians age 25 or over have a bachelor’s degree, according to recently released 2013 American Community Survey data. That’s a much higher share than among adults in the U.S. as a whole, whether native-born or foreign-born.