Analysis Group Authors Release Report Detailing Empirical Evidence on the Impact of Immigration on the US Economy

BOSTON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Immigration to the United States continues to be a topic of an intense national dialogue. Seeking to provide an evidence-based contribution to this ongoing discussion, economists at Analysis Group, one of the largest international economic consulting firms, today released a detailed report on the significant impact that immigrants have on entrepreneurial activity, innovation, and productivity in the United States.

More than 50 Analysis Group consultants contributed to the report, titled The Economic Impact of Immigration on the United States. It synthesizes recent data and research on immigrants in the United States and their contributions to the US economy. These empirical findings show that immigrants are critically important for the nation's capacity for innovation, economic growth, and technological change.

"Over the past few years, there has been significant focus on the impact of immigration on our country. As economists, we felt that it was important to examine rigorous empirical research on these topics to develop a better understanding of the role that immigrants play in the US economy and the contributions they make," said Jee-Yeon Lehmann, a labor economist, Analysis Group Managing Principal, and coauthor of the report.

Among the report's findings:

• Immigrants are an integral part of the US economy and participate in the civilian labor force at higher rates than native-born US workers.
• Immigrants in the United States participate in a wide variety of occupations. One organization estimates that, in 2021, immigrants contributed $3.3 trillion to the US GDP.
• Immigrants are entrepreneurs, innovators, and job creators. According to one organization's estimates, approximately 3.2 million immigrant entrepreneurs in the US generated $1.3 trillion in sales in 2017.
• Immigrants also drive innovation in the US economy. One academic study found that immigrant inventors generated 25 percent of the aggregate economic value created by patents in publicly traded and private US companies between 1990 and 2016.
• Foreign-born scientists, mathematicians, and engineers in the United States also represent some of the best in the field. Forty percent of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in Chemistry, Medicine, and Physics since 2000 were awarded to immigrants.
• Academic studies do not find evidence to support the claim that higher rates of immigration increase crime rates. To the contrary, findings from these studies suggest that immigration can reduce crime, especially violent crime, over time.
• Immigrants in the United States have a net positive fiscal impact over their lifetime. A 2017 study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded that, even without accounting for immigrants' indirect contributions to the economy, such as job creation, a new immigrant with the average age and educational attainment of recent immigrants creates a positive fiscal balance at all levels of government with a net present value of $259,000.

"It is our hope," the authors write, "that this report can be a resource … for evidence-based discourse that transcends rhetoric and partisanship on this important topic."

The Economic Impact of Immigration on the United States was written by a team of authors led by Analysis Group President Pierre Cremieux, Dr. Lehmann, and Senior Advisor Almudena Arcelus. It updates the findings of a 2017 report authored jointly by Analysis Group authors and the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. That earlier report analyzed immigrants' contributions to the technology sector and to the American economy more generally. It was included in amicus briefs by challengers seeking to overturn then-President Trump's restriction of travel and immigration to the US from several Muslim-majority nations. 

For more information and to request infographics, please contact Jennifer Cathell, Analysis Group Vice President of Marketing and Business Development (617-425-8255).

About Analysis Group

Analysis Group is one of the largest international economics consulting firms, with more than 1,200 professionals across 14 offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. Since 1981, we have provided expertise in economics, finance, health care analytics, and strategy to top law firms, Fortune Global 500 companies, and government agencies worldwide. Our internal experts, together with our network of affiliated experts from academia, industry, and government, offer our clients exceptional breadth and depth of expertise.

SOURCE Analysis Group