U.S. Policies Should Encourage Immigration
Anyone who fails to recognize the important role that immigration plays in the U.S. economy should read a recent report issued by the Partnership for a New American Economy.
That report notes that 41 percent of the Fortune 500 companies had at least one founder who was either a first- or second-generation immigrant. These companies have $4.2 trillion in annual revenues and employ 10.9 million people worldwide. Ninety of the companies were founded by first-generation immigrants, including Google, Yahoo, Ebay, Comcast and Intel.
While the report notes that immigrant entrepreneurs “have been essential to American prosperity,” current immigration laws and policy enforcement often drive immigrant workers and entrepreneurs away from our shores, rather than welcome them.
The Melting Pot
Despite the fact that the United States is a nation of people who came here from other countries, immigrants — legal or otherwise — are under attack today. This is true whether you are a computer software professional or an undocumented immigrant providing home health care to a person with Alzheimer’s.
While unemployment in the United States is at historic levels, it is estimated that approximately 5 million jobs cannot be filled because either U.S. workers won’t take these low-skilled/low-wage positions often found in the agricultural, health, retail and service sectors, or don’t possess the high- level skills necessary to perform jobs within the IT, health science and biotech sectors. That is 5 million people who could be buying homes, goods and services, generating tax revenue and paying into the Social Security system.
This “wills gap” and “skills gap,” as it is known, could easily be filled on both ends by adopting a smart immigration policy that provides both a pathway to legalization for the undocumented and creates a less hostile environment for those with advanced skills and education. Unfortunately, the anti-immigrant fervor that has swept the country has prevented Congress from acting.
As a result of this anti-immigrant fervor, Congress has, over the course of the past several years, reduced the number of H-1B visas available to degreed professionals. This has decreased the desire for the best and brightest to come to the United States.
Congress has increased fees on businesses, so that they now pay premiums of $3,000 to $5,000 per worker. Huge waiting lists, upwards of eight years for IT professionals from India, exist because Congress has set quotas well below what our economy needs.
Immigrants are not the cause of our economic decline, nor of high unemployment, but they can be part of the solution if our nation’s leaders wake up soon and begin to adopt sound immigration policies that realize their value and ability to innovate, invest and create jobs.
Kirk Carter is the leader of the immigration practice group at
the Worcester-based law firm of Fletcher Tilton PC.
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