New study says immigrants actually create more jobs for Americans

By Stephon Johnson
Contributing Writer

(Special to the NNPA from the New York Amsterdam News) – Despite what many people think about immigration and jobs in the United States, immigrants may actually help create jobs, according to a new study.

The study, “Immigrants and American Jobs,” conducted by economist and professor Made­leine Zavodny on behalf of the American Enterprise Institute and the Partnership for a New American Economy, analyzed the relationship between the foreign-born workforce and the employment rate for natural-born American workers. The report focused on two groups that policymakers and employers call critical to the economy: foreign-born adults with ad­vanced degrees and foreign workers here on temporary employment visas.

According to the study, in both cases, more foreign-born workers meant more jobs for Americans-with almost 262 more native-born workers employed for every 100 foreign-born workers with advan­ced degrees who work in science, technology, engineering or math, often referred to as the “STEM” fields.

The report also analyzed the fiscal impact of foreign-born workers and found that, on average, all immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits-particularly highly educated immigrants.

“This report adds important evidence to the case that economists have been making for years: That identifiable categories of immigrants unquestionably give a lift to native employment,” said Zavodny, an economics professor at Agnes Scott College. “But I hope it’s not just economists who take note-the study offers insight for legislators who need to know what’s at stake in immigration policy.”

According to the study, adding 100 workers in the H-1B visa program for skilled workers results in an additional 183 jobs for native-born Americans, while adding 100 workers in the H-2B program for less skilled, nonagricultural labor resulted in 464 more jobs for U.S. natives.

Based on the data, the report called for several legislative proposals that Zavodny said would create more jobs for Americans: Give priority to foreign workers who earn advanced degrees from U.S. universities, particularly those who work in STEM fields; increase the number of green cards for highly educated workers; and make temporary visas for both skilled and less skilled workers more available.

This article was originally published in the January 2, 2012 edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper