Immigration is integral to U.S. economic growth, and a new report by the Committee on National Statistics takes a comprehensive view: “The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration” looks at immigration’s effect on jobs and wages, as well as the fiscal impact of immigration processes.
The report quantified how much the skills brought to market by immigrants complement (as opposed to compete with) native workers’. The report concludes that high-skilled immigrants boost economic growth, and increase innovation – for example in the area of patenting.
The adverse impact through displacement on native worker wages is very small in comparison, measured over time (a 10-year period).
Overall, the presence of immigrant workers in the U.S. labor market accounts for an 11% larger U.S. economy annually. In 2016, this represented $2 trillion in GDP.
The Committee on Nation Statistics is part of a nongovernmental institution funded through National Science Foundation grants. Full report available at: https://www.nap.edu/read/23550