Economic Contribution

Immigrants contribute to the economy of their host countries as workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, and investors. In the United States, for instance, they represent 17% of the country’s workforce, 30% of high-tech workers, and 32% of scientists and engineers.

Nobody doubts that Sergey Brin or Jerry Yang, the founders of Google and Yahoo, are net contributors to the U.S. economy. Nevertheless, doubts are raised when the discussion turns to the contribution of low-skilled immigrants. Researchers investigating the economic contributions of low-skilled immigrants disagree. Some of them find a positive net contribution, while others find their net contribution negative. Absent from these debates, though, is a fundamental aspect of immigrant labor: their workforce has been produced and reproduced elsewhere.

The majority of research on the contributions of immigrant workers focuses on productivity – what immigrant labor produces compared to what public benefits they access. Focusing on reproduction would also include the costs associated with reproducing the workforce: the costs associated with their pre- and post-productive period. Accounting for these costs better represents immigrant labor’s economic contribution to their hosting societies (Lima, 2014).