Immigration Policy
Is Innovation Policy
How Immigrants Fuel
American Dynamism
The best and brightest people across the globe see the United States as a place where they can fulfill their full potential. In the process, they create jobs for American workers, pioneer new technologies and scientific discoveries, and help to solve some of the most difficult challenges we face as a nation. Simply put, skilled immigrants play an essential role in making the U.S. the largest and most advanced economy in the world.
This project brings together the statistics and the stories of how skilled immigrants fuel American dynamism through entrepreneurship, innovation, and community revitalization.
Entrepreneurship
How Immigrants Fuel American Dynamism
The United States attracts some of the most ambitious and successful immigrants from the world over, helping found globally recognized businesses that generate economic benefits for American workers.
Immigrants start businesses at twice the rate of native-born Americans, making them net job creators for the U.S. economy.1
Immigrants have founded or co-founded a majority of America’s “unicorn” startup companies valued over $1 billion, driving global innovation and economic growth.3
Fortune 500 companies founded or co-founded by immigrants include Alphabet, eBay, Moderna, Nvidia, Procter & Gamble, and SpaceX, and so many more.4
All together, immigrant entrepreneurs employ almost eight million workers across the nation.6
Innovation
How Immigrants Fuel American Dynamism
The United States has been the most innovative economy in the world for over a century. However, our global leadership is increasingly under threat in a rapidly-changing world. Boosting innovation requires new ideas and risk-taking—and immigrants specialize in both.
Highly-educated immigrants push up wages and boost productivity economy-wide.8 Estimates suggest that immigrants with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) degrees generated between 30 percent and 50 percent of total U.S. productivity growth between 1990 and 2010.9
Skilled immigrants create so many economic spillovers that they make native-born Americans of all education levels better off.10
Revitalizing Communities
How Immigrants Fuel American Dynamism
Skilled immigrants bring an array of benefits to their local communities. But due to our broken immigration system, there are too few skilled immigrants and they are too heavily clustered in just a handful of places. The 20 most populous counties alone contain 36 percent of the country’s immigrants with at least a Bachelor’s degree, compared to only 19 percent of the country’s total population.11
Meanwhile, U.S. population growth is at record lows and an increasing number of communities are facing steep demographic decline.
Today, the areas that could most benefit from skilled immigration are the least likely to be served by current policy. But decline is not inevitable–it is a policy choice. A new approach could help more communities and regions access the global talent that has helped superstar cities succeed. Policies to broaden the geographic reach of skilled immigration would strengthen local economies by reinforcing struggling labor markets, bringing in more tax revenue, and boosting demand for local businesses.
At a time when lawmakers are struggling to improve the country’s long-term budgetary outlook, consider this: Every new skilled immigrant with a bachelor’s degree has a positive impact on government finances at the federal, state, and local levels, adding a net $481,000 in tax revenue over a 75-year period. Immigrants with graduate degrees have an even larger impact, adding $812,000.12
A Bipartisan Way Forward
Americans across the political spectrum believe the U.S. immigration system needs major changes. What is one idea that generates remarkably high levels of bipartisan support? Boosting skilled immigration.13
Whether to maintain our global leadership in science, technology, and innovation…
…or to ensure the companies of the future start and grow in the United States, Americans of all stripes call for more skilled immigration.
increasing skilled immigration
The U.S. remains the destination of choice for the world’s best and brightest, but we can’t afford to be complacent.
It’s time to maximize this powerful national advantage with a better approach to attracting the global talent that can help fuel American dynamism for generations to come.
Watch Immigrant Founders Tell Their Stories
Mert immigrated from Turkey to Chicago, IL, to study Engineering and Entrepreneurial Design at Northwestern University in Evanston. He is the Co-Founder of SwipeSense, a healthcare technology company helping to eliminate medical errors in U.S. hospitals.
JJ immigrated from China to Pittsburgh, PA, to pursue her MBA at Carnegie Mellon University. She is Founder and CEO of TalkMeUp, an AI-powered communication coach at your fingertips.
Aaron immigrated from Dubai to Cleveland, OH, to study Civil Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He is the Founder and CEO of SupplyNow, which provides critical supply chain services to restaurants.
References
1. Pierre Azoulay, Benjamin F. Jones, J. Daniel Kim, and Javier Miranda. “Immigration and Entrepreneurship in the United States,” American Economic Review, 2020.
2. “Immigrants Are Vital to the U.S. Economy,” United States Congress Joint Economic Committee.
3. Stuart Anderson. “Immigrant Entrepreneurs and U.S. Billion-Dollar Companies,” National Foundation for American Policy, 2022.
4. Alec Stapp and Jeremy Neufeld. “The case for high-skilled immigration reform (and how to make it happen),” Noahpinion, 2022.
5. “New American Fortune 500 Report Reveals Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurship,” American Immigration Council, 2022.
6. “Immigrants Are Vital to the U.S. Economy”
7. “Immigrants and Nobel Prizes: 1901-2021,” National Foundation for American Policy; Ufuk Akcigit, John Grigsby, and Tom Nicholas. “Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity,” Harvard Business School, 2017.
8. Konrad B. Burchardi, Thomas Chaney, Tarek Alexander Hassan, Lisa Tarquinio, and Stephen J. Terry, November. “Immigration, Innovation, and Growth,” National Bureau of Economic Research, 2021.
9. Giovanni Peri, Kevin Shih, and Chad Sparber. “STEM Workers, H-1B Visas, and Productivity in US Cities,” 2015.
10. “STEM Workers, H-1B Visas, and Productivity in US Cities”
11. Kenan Fikri. “Immigration is Economic Development,” Economic Innovation Group, 2023.
12. “The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration,” National Academies, 2017.
13. Kenneth Megan and Adam Ozimek. “U.S. Perspectives on Skilled Immigration: Results from EIG’s National Voter Survey,” Economic Innovation Group, 2022.
Acknowledgments
EIG would like to convey its gratitude to multiple partners and contributors to this project.
To the immigrant founders who generously shared their stories and time with us: Aaron George, JJ Xu, and Mert Hilmi Iseri.
To the partners who went above and beyond throughout every step of the project: The DVI Group on video production; Graphicacy on graphic and data visualization design and engineering; Urban Emu on web implementation and social media graphic design; and Echelon Insights and GBAO on community focus groups and the survey of American voters.
To the partners and organizations who have informed, inspired, and supported us (in addition to those cited above): the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Center for American Entrepreneurship, Institute for Progress, Foundation for American Innovation, Niskanen Center, Federation of American Scientists, Foundation for American Innovation, One America Works, and the Immigrant Learning Center.