Economic progress and immigration go hand in hand, according to research. In studies that show a marked contrast to the fear that unemployment is worsened by immigrants taking American jobs, studies have proven that the job crisis in the United States would actually be helped by mending the nation’s broken immigration system.
One of the reasons why more jobs result from the creation of more open immigration is that immigrants have a tendency to be innovative and entrepreneurial than the great majority of American citizens who were born in the country, and are actually much more likely to start new businesses. Immigrants are also behind around 50 percent of the nation’s start-up companies, accounting for almost all net job creation, the Kauffman Foundation claims.
A study made by the Fiscal Policy Institute last year also found that almost five million Americans were employed by businesses owned by immigrants in 2010 and also generated revenue of around $776 billion. Over 40 percent of Fortune 500 firms were also founded either by immigrants or by first generation Americans. Over 75 percent of patents given by the country’s top 10 research universities were given to immigrants in 2011, the great majority of which were in the fields of engineering, mathematics, science and technology.
The founder of Cambridge, Massachusetts’ Cambridge Innovation Center, Tim Rowe, notes that “our immigration policy is built around the notion that we have to protect American jobs. But we’ve got it backward. We’re threatening the creation of new jobs by preventing these incredibly talented entrepreneurs from overseas from coming here and building their businesses here”.