Immigration

Our economy is very dependent on foreign labor. Indeed, most of our workforce growth since 1990 has come from immigration, a trend that is expected to continue for at least the next 20 years. How these workers are employed, therefore, will have important implications for American economic health, as well as for national unity and social stability.

America’s employment-based immigration system is broken. The programs for admitting foreign workers for temporary and permanent jobs are rigid, cumbersome, and inefficient; do too little to protect the wages and working conditions of workers (foreign or domestic); do not respond very well to employers’ needs; and give almost no attention to adapting the number and characteristics of foreign workers to domestic labor shortages. The United States could benefit enormously from an immigration system that is more responsive to broader economic conditions.

 

Publications

Expanding Access to Driver’s Licenses

Policies affecting access to driver’s licenses have changed in numerous ways over the years in
New York State, and around the country. Today, 12 states, plus the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico, make it possible for immigrants to get driver’s licenses without regard to their
immigration status.

Until 2003, New York State allowed residents to apply for driver’s licenses without regard to
their immigration status. Proposals are now pending in the New York State legislature that would
allow all state residents to apply for a driver’s license, irrespective of their immigration status.
Currently, 37 percent of unauthorized immigrants live in a place where they can get a driver’s
license; if a bill passed in New York, that share would increase to 44 percent.

Expanding Access to Driver’s Licenses: How Many Additional Cars Might Be Purchased?

If a policy was implemented allowing all age eligible immigrants, regardless of immigration status, to obtain a license, the Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that 97,000 additional cars would be purchased and registered in about a three year period, a one percent increase in the total number of vehicles in the state.

An innovative analysis compares the vehicle ownership rates in households that include an unauthorized immigrant with other immigrant households. The comparison adjusts for household income, number of adults per household, and the “take-up rate” for unauthorized immigrants getting licenses.

Take-Up Rates for Driver’s Licenses: When Unauthorized Immigrants Can Get a License, How Many Do?

How many unauthorized immigrants actually get licenses when driver’s license policies are expanded to allow them to apply?

The Fiscal Policy Institute looks at the experience of five states and the District of Columbia, and finds that, based on these examples, between 25 percent and 50 percent of unauthorized immigrants over the age of 16 obtain a license in the first three years.

Syrian Immigrants: Doing Well, and a Strong Receiving Community for Refugees

A new report by the Fiscal Policy Institute and the Center for American Progress looks at how Syrian immigrants fare in the United States.

After a political campaign season in which Syrians coming to the United States were met with harsh words and proposals, this report takes a calm look at how immigrants from Syria are faring in the United States. The findings are reassuring: Syrian immigrants are highly educated, disproportionately likely to be business owners, learn English, and become home owners invested in their communities. Refugees come under different circumstances than the immigrants who came before them, but the fact that there are people in the United States who speak the same language and know the culture they come from can be a substantial help to the newcomers in finding their way into American society and the American labor market.

This report is a companion to the report FPI and CAP released in June about the integration of four refugee groups in the United States over the span of several decades: Hmong, Somalis, Burmese, and Bosnians.