Losing skilled immigrants
by John Pinto The Obama Administration is trying to put limits on the number of skilled immigrants in the United States. In a study released on March 2, 2009, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation indicates that placing limits on foreign workers is not the answer to the country’s rising unemployment rate and may even undermine efforts to get the country out of the recession. Immigrants have been the key to technological innovation and have contributed immensely to the high tech sector of the United States’ economy. In the Kauffman foundation study, Duke University Professor Vivek Wadhwa states that countries like India and China are now providing equal career opportunities and a better quality of life, as the United States used to. “So, the most highly educated and skilled are often returning home. Losing these skilled immigrants is an economic catastrophe that will hurt U.S. competitiveness for decades to come.” Immigrant-founded companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in revenue in 2006. Among immigrant-founded firms are Google, Intel, E-Bay and Yahoo. The enormous contributions made by these firms alone have helped better not only our lives, but also the lives of people around the world. The reasons given by immigrants for returning to their native countries were varied. A large majority said they returned because of the growing demand for their skills. Other reasons were the opportunities to start their own business, care for their aging parents and to be near family. Between 1990 and 2007, the proportion of immigrants in the U.S. labor force increased from 9.3 percent to 15.7 percent. The study covered highly skilled people who had studied or worked in the United States and then returned to their native countries. It included 1,203 Indian and Chinese subjects. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, non-partisan foundation based in Kansas. Another study about immigrants by the Small Business Administration, found that Mexicans and Koreans were the two largest immigrant groups to own businesses in the United States. However, Indian-owned businesses generated the largest amounts of income. Over 11 percent of all business income is generated by immigrant-owned businesses. Immigrants also owned 11.2 percent of businesses with $100,000 or more in sales and 10.8 percent of all businesses with employees. Immigrant-owned businesses generated $67 billion in income. Owners of Indian descent generated $5 billion, with each owner making an average of $83,000. This is the highest income among all owners from any other country and higher than businesses owned by U.S.-born owners. The study reported that immigrants represent 12.5 percent of all businesses and that immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start a business than non-immigrants. Immigrant businesses generate about 20 percent of all business income in New York, Florida and New Jersey. Immigrants own large shares of the entertainment and recreation industries. Immigrants are not only involved in the high tech industry, but also made significant contributions to the service, transportation and wholesale and retail industries. If America is to prosper and continue leading the world, it is important that it follow policies that favor legal immigration. It is important that we all contact our political leaders and let them know this. |
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