Financial Times: “Immigration is back in the US”

According to a recent article by Tana Foroohar in the Financial Times (“FT”) “Immigration is back in the US.” Ms. Foroohar, a Global Business Columnist and an Associate Editor at FT takes note that the country is returning to “pre-Trump, pre-pandemic rates of immigration” which is wonderful to news to fight inflation and promote economic and labor force growth. Ms. Foroohar’s research points to a 2020 paper by the Dallas Fed which notes that “the future of American growth exceptionalism (relative to Europe and other rich countries) may be largely down to the future of immigration.”

The article notes that the US labor market has increased by four million workers in the last two and a half years, and the working age foreign national population has reached its pre-Covid trend level. Ms. Foroohar explains that aside from more women joining the workforce, “increasing immigration is the only quick way to bolster the labour force in any nation.” She also points out that although immigrants represent only 13.6 percent of the US population, they start twenty five percent of new businesses. A study by the American Immigration Council found that 43.8% of Fortune 500 companies in the US were started by immigrants or children of immigrants. As immigrants continue to start new businesses and create jobs in the US, pay taxes, and fund entitlements we echo the writer’s sentiment that anti-immigration advocates should pay attention to  these figures and ponder the benefits of immigration.