The Empire State edges out New Jersey and California as the nation’s biggest beneficiary of economic activity from the foreign-born, according to the personal finance site Wallethub. The site based its reporting on data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Department of Labor, as well as from private pro-immigration groups such as Partnership for a New American Economy Research Fund and the American Immigration Council.
Immigrants make up a smaller percentage of New York’s work force than they do in California, and have a lower median income than those who have made New Jersey their home. New York is tied with California, New Jersey and Florida in the proportion of jobs produced by immigrant business owners, and with the former two in its percentage of foreign-born workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
But the state bests its rivals in the economic and employment benefits brought by international students and by the foreign born executives at Fortune 500 firms.
The Wallethub report comes amid an ardent national debate over immigration, and one day after the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to move ahead with a plan to deny green cards to foreign nationals deemed likely to become a “public charge.”
The experts the site consulted for its study argued the U.S. should encourage both skilled and unskilled workers from around the world to settle in its borders.
“Tightening legal immigration policies would deny the U.S. the brightest and hardest working from across the world contributing to American society,” said Rutgers Law Professor Sahar Aziz. “There has yet to be any credible studies showing immigrants are an economic drain on states over the long run. While some are dependent on social welfare programs during the first few years of their arrival, the longer they stay in the United States the more economic benefits immigrants provide to the economy.”
