Immigrants' Growing Role in US Economy: $2 Trillion Impact - Essay Sample

Introduction

Immigrants make up 14 percent of the US population (Nunn et al.). Nunn et al. argue that immigrants account for the net prime-age population growth a fact that suggests immigrants are taking a more significant role in the US economy. Nunn et al. argue that immigrants increase the number of employees in the workforce hence enhancing the productive volume of the US economy. They estimate the impact by foreign-born workers at $2 trillion which translates to about 10 percent of the annual GDP. They, however, note that the influx of immigrants has short and long-run impacts. In the short run, a massive influx or outflow of immigrants would lead to a disruption in that an increase would put a lot of pressure on the available infrastructure while a decrease would lead to labor gaps, underutilized housing among other effects. The view is supported by Goldin who notes that even though immigrants make up 14 percent of the population, they were responsible for about 30 percent of all business. He further notes that "more than half of the US startups were established by immigrants, as well as around 40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies". The impact of this entrepreneurial culture has had a positive effect on GDP growth in the US.

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Goldin observes that immigrants are educated abroad and depart the US before retirement. This means that they pay considerably more tax than the benefits they receive. Immigrants are associated with higher wages, higher productivity, high female workforce participation, and low unemployment rates factors that increase the GDP. That is, immigrant's per capita expenditure on Food Stamp Program, cash welfare assistance, Medicaid, Medicare, and social security are lower than for native-born persons (Nunn et al.).

Porter also reports that the impact of immigration on the GDP has been immense. The native population has also benefitted in that immigration produced net benefits amounting $50 billion to them (Porter). The benefit is attributed to increased labor supply by low skilled immigrants as well as contributing to innovation by high skilled immigrants who have reported more patents than natives. The assertion is supported by Goldin who notes. Immigrants are two or three times more likely to create a patented innovation or win a Nobel Prize or Academy Award.

It is evident that immigrants have had a positive impact on the US GDP by increasing labor, entrepreneurship, innovations and low expenditure in the economy.

Works Cited

Goldin, Ian. "Immigration is Vital to Boost Economic Growth." Financial Times, 9 Sept. 2018, www.ft.com/content/f1ca7b14-b1d6-11e8-87e0-d84e0d934341.

Nunn, Ryan, et al. "A Dozen Facts About Immigration." Brookings, 9 Oct. 2018, www.brookings.edu/research/a-dozen-facts-about-immigration/.

Porter, Eduardo. "How to Make America Greater: More Immigration." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, 22 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/business/economy/restricting-immigration-would-make-america-smaller-not-greater.html.