Economic Contribution of Immigrants

Nisha Singh, RajeshwarSharma 
(Livingstone College, USA)

Abstract: Many scholars have studied the economic activities of immigrants in the United States of America (Borjas, 1986; Schuetze and Antecol, 2007; Fairlie and Robb, 2008 and others). They found that approximately 10% 0f the total businesses in the United States are owned by immigrants. They are important part of the U.S. economy and contribute to its productivity growth and technological advancement (Bureau of labor Statistics, American Community Survey). The main objective of this research paper is to study the contribution of immigrants in the following three areas of the US economy and to find the opportunities for future growth: Real estate businesses, Restaurant business, and White color jobs. For the purpose of this study, the US census reports from 2000-2011 have been used. According to the 2011 census report, the maximum number of immigrants is from Mexico, which is 11,711,103 million people or 29.33% of the total immigrant population. The number of Chinese immigrants is 2,166524 million and they make 4.20% of the business owner and labor force. The number of Indian immigrants is 1,780,322 and they make 5.71% of the businesses owner and labor force in the United States. This study is designed to evaluate the contribution of immigrants from Mexico, China and India in US economy.

Key words: bureau of labor statistics; white color jobs; immigrants; US economy & population

JEL code: F22