What role do immigrants play in the
New YorkState economy? How about in
upstate
New York? In the downstate suburbs?
In
New York City? What countries do
immigrants come from? Where do they work? How well are they doing?
New Yorkers who want the facts can now turn to
Working for a Better Life
A Profile of Immigrants in the New
York State Economy
Contact:
David Dyssegaard Kallick, FPI Senior
Fellow
646-284-1240 (mobile)
Jo Brill, FPI Director of Communications
914-671-9442 (mobile)
Immigrants Create Almost a Quarter
of
New York State Economic Output Report shows
foreign-born New Yorkers in jobs
all across the economic spectrum
Immigrants added
$229 billion to the New York State economy in 2006, according toa new report by the Fiscal Policy Institute. That represents 22.4
percent of the state's Gross Domestic Product, according to the report, Working for a Better Life: A Profile of
Immigrants in the New York Economy.
"These figures
should wipe away any impression that immigrants are holding the New York economy
back," said David Dyssegaard Kallick, senior fellow of the Fiscal Policy
Institute and principal author of the report. "In fact, immigrants are a central
component of New York's economic growth."
Immigrants make
up 21 percent of people living in New York State—37 percent in New York City, 18
percent in the downstate suburbs, and 5 percent in upstate in 2005, according to
the report. Immigrants also make up 31 percent of people who commute into New
York State to work.
"Immigrants'
contribution to economic output in New York State is about the same as their
share of the population," notes James Parrott, chief economist of the Fiscal
Policy Institute. "That's because immigrants start businesses, invest in New
York, and work in jobs all across the economic spectrum—the same as other New
Yorkers."
"This report clearly proves
that immigrants fuel growth and vitality in every economic sector and every
geographic area in New York," said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of The New
York Immigration Coalition. "For us to maximize immigrant contributions to the
economy, we must stop treating immigrants like criminals and terrorists.
Instead, we need to change our immigration laws so that undocumented immigrants
can come out of the shadows of the underground economy and future immigrant
workers can immigrate legally to fill jobs that our economy requires."
The report also
finds that immigrants are subject to the same economic forces as everyone else
in New York's highly polarized economy. "We can see that low-wage workers—both
immigrants and U.S.-born—are not sharing in the
economy's growth," said David R. Jones, president
and CEO of the Community Service Society of NY. "The right answer is to enforce
basic standards that are good for all low-wage workers, not to pit one group of
workers against another."
"This study finds that over one third of all
children growing up in New York State are part of an immigrant family," noted
Alan B. Lubin, executive vice president of the New York State United Teachers.
"This stunning statistic shows how immigrants and their families are interwoven
into the fabric of our schools and our communities."
"And it doesn't stop at high school graduation,
either," he continued. "On the other side of the classroom, the teaching side,
the study shows that immigrants contribute mightily toward our higher education
efforts."
Joe Gomez, an electrical contractor from Albany,
came from Cuba in 1961 as a political refugee. "For me, America was the land of
opportunity. I found success, and I think I can say at this point that I have
given back," he said. "I've helped fellow immigrants, yes, but I've also been
able to contribute to the entire community, strengthening the local economy,
providing jobs and building new homes and businesses."
Eduardo Giraldo, an insurance agency
owner from Queens, first came to the United States from Colombia as an exchange
student. Giraldo chairs the New York Statewide Hispanic Chamber. "Immigrants are
here to work hard," he said. "They are very entrepreneurial and productive, and
as we see from today’s report they make a tremendous contribution to the economy
as a whole. With supportive policies, my fellow immigrant entrepreneurs can and
will make the great New York State economy even stronger."
Over time, the report shows, immigrants become
fully participating members of New York's communities.
The majority of immigrants living in New York
State speak English, and their English gets significantly better over time.
Immigrants are entrepreneurs. The
number of Hispanic- and Asian-owned businesses is growing rapidly, one rough
indication of immigrant entrepreneurship.
About two thirds of immigrants in
the upstate and downstate suburbs own their own homes.
Fully 34 percent of New York's
children are growing up in families with at least one foreign-born adult—8
percent in upstate New York, 31 percent in the downstate suburbs, and 57
percent in New York City.
The Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) is
a nonpartisan research and education organization that focuses on tax, budget,
and economic issues that affect the quality of life and the economic well being
of New York State residents. FPI reports are available at
www.fiscalpolicy.org.
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Additional Information
Working for a Better Life looks
at the state as a whole, and in addition analyzes the state in three parts: New
York City, the downstate suburbs, and upstate New York.
In New York City, where
immigrants make up 37 percent of the population and 46 percent of the labor
force, immigrants are bolstering the middle class. Immigrants in New York City
are more likely than U.S.-born residents to live in families in the middle
income brackets, and less likely to live in families with very high or very low
incomes. Immigrants make up a quarter of CEOs who live in New York City, half of
accountants, a third of office clerks, a third of receptionists, and a third of
building cleaners. In sector after sector, immigrants are found in the top,
middle, and bottom rungs of the economic ladder, from finance to real estate to
medicine.
In the downstate suburbs, 18
percent of all residents are foreign-born, with immigrants making up 23 percent
of the labor force. Immigrants in the downstate suburbs are doing better,
economically, than immigrants in other parts of the state. Median income for
families with at least one immigrant adult is $71,000, compared to a statewide
median of $45,000 for families with at least one immigrant (the statewide median
for people in U.S.-born families is $53,000). More immigrants work as registered
nurses than in any other occupation. In addition, 41 percent of physicians and
surgeons in the downstate suburbs are foreign-born, as are 28 percent of college
and university professors, 22 percent of accountants and auditors, and 19
percent of financial managers.
In upstate New York, five
percent of the population is foreign-born, but immigrants play a
disproportionately important role in some areas that are key to the region's
economy, culture, and history. In universities, immigrants make up 20 percent of
all professors, four times their share of the overall population. In health
care, the fastest-growing sector in upstate New York, immigrants make up 35
percent of physicians and surgeons. In scientific fields, related to upstate's
strength in research and development, immigrants make up 20 percent of computer
software engineers and 13 percent of computer scientists and systems analysts.
And in farming, important to rural communities and to the cultural heritage of
the region, immigrants make up an estimated 80 percent of the seasonal workers
who pick the crops. Perhaps surprisingly, the three most common countries of
origin for upstate immigrants are Canada, India, and Germany. Mexico, the focus
of so much public attention in the immigration debates, comes fourth.
