Immigrants’ big economic impact

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A new report confirms yet again that immigrants continue to make a sizeable contribution to the Oklahoma economy, especially in the state’s two largest cities, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The study released by the organization New American Economy (NAE) shows that Oklahoma’s 219,892 immigrants paid $1.1 billion in state and local taxes in 2014 and make up a disproportionately high percentage of the workforce.

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Immigrants living in Oklahoma constitute 5.7% of the total population, yet they represent nearly 8% of the state’s workforce. Immigrants are well known for their entrepreneurial spirit, and this is certainly true in the Sooner State, which boasts more than 10,000 immigrant entrepreneurs, including 2,212 in Tulsa and 5,867 in Oklahoma City. These immigrant business owners are also significant employers in the state, with more than 29,000 workers in 2014.

Metropolitan Tulsa’s 60,561 immigrants paid more than $300 million in state and local taxes in 2014, and Metro Oklahoma City’s 114,789 immigrants paid over $417 million.

Immigrants in Oklahoma have an estimated buying power of an astounding $3.2 billion, nearly $1 billion of which feeds into Tulsa’s economy and $1.4 billion into Oklahoma City’s.

“These numbers prove that immigrants are not the drain on the economy that Donald Trump would have everyone believe,” said Guillermo Rojas, Vice-President of Tulsa’s Hispanic Business Owners Association (HBOA). “Every day, immigrants pay taxes and spend their hard-earned money on goods and services, contributing to state and local revenue and making the economy stronger for everyone.”

In addition to supporting the economy by paying taxes and spending money, immigrants are also a vital component of the state’s workforce, something that is true in a wide variety of industries, including technology, agriculture, hospitality, and construction.

“The health of our agriculture industry… is tied directly to immigration,” NAE’s website states. “Farmers frequently say that few, if any, American workers are willing to take on the most difficult low-level farm jobs—particularly the hand harvesting roles required to produce fresh fruits and vegetables.”

The organization, which is bipartisan and claims no ideological agenda, believes the important role that immigrants play in the nation’s overall economy is most evident on a local level.

“Whether through bolstering population growth, revitalizing Main Street with small businesses, or increasing the number of patents and innovative ideas at state universities, immigrants have a positive and tangible impact in communities across the United States. But how states and localities approach immigration can determine whether those contributions are maximized or wasted,” NAE states.

The organization believes the trends evinced by the report will likely continue in the years ahead:

“In many ways, the growth in the immigrant population in recent years has helped to strengthen and remake America. As the baby boomers retire, younger immigrants are filling gaps in our workforce and paying the taxes that help our entitlement programs survive. They are buying homes in communities that would be in decline otherwise. And naturalized immigrants are gaining more influence at the voting booth, a trend that will only accelerate in the coming decade.” (La Semana)