Measuring the Economic Impact of Immigrants

Our friends at the Keystone Research Center have alerted us to a new report Immigrants and the Economy (52 pages), prepared by the Fiscal Policy Institute, which is affiliated wit the SEIU. the subtitle is: Contribution of Immigrant Workers to the Country’s 25 Largest Metropolitan Areas with a focus on the five largest metro areas in the East. One of those five areas is the greater Philadelphia area.

According to the press release:

The report found that immigrants are contributing to the economy in very close proportion to their share of the population. In the 25 largest metropolitan areas combined - comprising more than half of the country's Gross Domestic Product, and two thirds of all immigrants - foreign-born workers are responsible for 20% of economic output and make up 20% of the population.

In metro Philadelphia, immigrants represent 9% of population and 10% of GDP, while in metro Pittsburgh, they represent 3% of population and 4% of GDP. In both regions, larger-than-average shares of the immigrant population work in managerial and professional occupations, a high- and middle-wage occupational category that includes executives, doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, professors, social workers, and artists.