The Immigration Policy Center released updated state-by-state fact sheets with impact of immigrants on California’s economy and demographic situation. Here is the interesting summary for California:
27% of Californians are immigrants.
51.3% of Californians are Latinos or Asian.
46.8% of immigrants (or 4.8 million people) in California became naturalized U.S. citizens.
Unauthorized immigrants comprise roughly 6.8% of the state’s population (or 2.5 million people).
Immigrants comprised 34.3% of the state’s workforce in 2011 (or 6.5 million workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Immigrants in California pay roughly $30 billion in federal taxes, $5.2 billion in state income taxes, and $4.6 billion in sales taxes each year. In California, “the average immigrant-headed household contributes a net $2,679 annually to Social Security, which is $539 more than the average US-born household.”
Immigrants accounted for 34% of total economic output in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, 29% in the San Francisco metropolitan area,25% in the Riverside metropolitan area, and 23% in the San Diego metropolitan area in 2007, according to a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute.
If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from California, the state would lose $301.6 billion in economic activity, decrease total employment by 17.4%, and eliminate 3.6 million jobs, according to a study by Dr. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda and Marshall Fitz. If unauthorized immigrants in California were legalized, it would add 633,000 jobs to the economy, increase labor income by $26.9 billion, and increase tax revenues by $5.3 billion.
The 2012 purchasing power of California’s Latinos totaled $310.5 billion—an increase of 353% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $236.7 billion—an increase of 448% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.
California’s 566,573 Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $80.3 billion and employed 458,922 people in 2007, the last year for which data is available. The state’s 508,969 Asian-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $181.3 billion and employed 905,957 people. Together, businesses owned by Latinos and Asians comprised more than one-quarter of all businesses in the state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Survey of Business Owners.
Unauthorized immigrants pay taxes.
- Unauthorized immigrants in California paid $2.7 billion in state and local taxes in 2010, according to data from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, which includes:
- $176.9 million in state income taxes.
- $735.8 million in property taxes.
- $1.8 billion in sales taxes.
Immigrants are integral to California’s economy as students.
- California’s 102,789 foreign students contributed $3.2 billion to the state’s economy in tuition, fees, and living expenses for the 2011-2012 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Naturalized citizens excel educationally.
- In California, 33.2% of foreign-born persons who were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2011 had a bachelor’s or higher degree, compared to 17.4% of noncitizens. At the same time, only 24.9% of naturalized citizens lacked a high-school diploma, compared to 48.9% of noncitizens.
- The number of immigrants in California with a college degree increased by 51% between 2000 and 2011, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute.
- In California, 81% of children with immigrant parents were considered “English proficient” as of 2009, according to data from the Urban Institute.
- The English proficiency rate among Asian children in California was 86.4%, while for Latino children it was 83%, as of 2009.
THE LAW OFFICE OF NATALIA MALYSHKINA 