pro-imm.doc

More Immigration Means More Jobs for Americans
Immigrants are 13% of the U.S. population, but they make up nearly 20% of the
owners of small businesses.
JOHN DEARIE And COURTNEY GEDU LDIG (MODIFIED BY TEACHER)
Updated Dec. 29, 2013 6:24 p.m. ET
Of all the reasons to support immigration reform, none is more important than the critical role it
would play in helping end America's jobs crisis. Some oppose immigration reform out of fear that more
immigrants will take American jobs and make the jobs crisis worse. Such fears are unfounded (not
legitimate). Research has repeatedly shown that more open immigration policies would create more
jobs for more Americans.
In part that is because immigrants are more entrepreneurial and innovative (inventive) than
native-born Americans—a fact that shouldn't shock or offend anyone. To immigrate requires being
willing to pick up one's life and move, often at great personal and financial risk, to a different country,
with a different culture and often a different language—a profoundly entrepreneurial (taking initiative
in order to succeed) act. People willing to do so remain highly innovative once they get here.
Immigrants represent 13% of the U.S. population but account for nearly 20% of small
businesses owners. Immigrant-owned small businesses employed nearly five million Americans in
2010 and generated an estimated $776 billion in revenue, according to a June 2012 study from the
Fiscal Policy Institute. The Partnership for a New American Economy, a bipartisan (not associated with
one political group) group of more than 500 business leaders and mayors, has found that more than
40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or a child of immigrants.
Immigrants also launch half of the nation's top start-ups, and research by the Kaufman
Foundation has established that start-ups account for virtually all net new job creation. A study by the
National Foundation for American Policy found that of the top 50 venture capital-backed companies in
the U.S. last year, 23 have at least one foreign-born founder, while 37 have at least one immigrant in a
major management position. Intel, Google, Yahoo and eBay are a few of the American companies
started by the foreign-born.
The net result of immigrants' innovation and entrepreneurship is job creation. This effect is most
pronounced for immigrants with advanced degrees from U.S. universities working in science and
technology fields. According to a study by the American Enterprise Institute, between 2000 and 2007
each group of 100 foreign-born workers with such backgrounds was associated with 262 additional
American jobs.
During the summer of 2011, we conducted round tables with entrepreneurs in 12 U.S. cities, asking
about obstacles to business formation and growth. In every city, frustrated entrepreneurs cited policy
barriers to attracting and retaining the world's best talent as one of the principal obstacles.
Rob Lilleness, president and chief executive of software developer Media Systems in Seattle,
Wash., explained how immigration restrictions often force new companies to outsource jobs to people
abroad with math and science backgrounds. "We have to look at India, or Argentina, or Vietnam, or
China because there's not enough H-1B visas (temporary work permits for foreigners to work in the
USA)," he said.
Tim Rowe, founder of the Cambridge Innovation Center, a shared office space facility for start-
ups and venture-capital firms in Cambridge, Mass., told us that "our immigration policy is built around
the notion that we have to protect American jobs. But we've got it backward. We're threatening the
creation of new jobs by preventing these incredibly talented entrepreneurs from overseas from coming
here and building their businesses here."
There is already evidence that this is happening. A 2009 survey of more than 1,200 foreign
students attending American colleges and universities found that only 6% of Indian students, 10% of
Chinese students, and 15% of European students hoped to stay in the U.S. permanently. The vast
majority—85% of Indian and Chinese students, and 72% of European students—cited concerns
regarding their ability to obtain work visas. More than 70% of the students polled said they planned to
start a new business. There are over 900,000 foreign students attending US universities every year, so
we are turning away a lot of talented people.
Will the U.S. prosper in the 21st-century economy? Only if our immigration policies are
designed to compete.

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More Immigration Means More Jobs for Americans

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