Report Reveals Positive Impacts of Immigration on U.S. Economy

Francine Blau, Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Professor of Economics
October 24, 2016
Prerna Sampat

Click here to download "The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration"Immigration has minimal long-term impacts on wages and employment of native-born U.S. workers, according to a report co-edited by Francine Blau, ILR School’s Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations.

“The panel's comprehensive examination revealed many important benefits of immigration — including economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship — with little to no negative effects on the overall wages or employment of native-born workers in the long term,” Blau said.

She was chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel that conducted the study and wrote the report. To download the full report, visit the National Academies Press website.

“Where negative wage impacts have been detected, native-born high school dropouts and prior immigrants are most likely to be affected,” Blau said in a media release.

“The fiscal picture is more mixed, with negative effects especially evident at the state level when the costs of educating the children of immigrants are included, but these children of immigrants, on average, go on to be the most positive fiscal contributors in the population.”

The report was recently covered in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among many other news outlets. An archived webinar with Blau on the report findings and webinar slides can be viewed here.

The National Academies immigration study Blau led was sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with additional support provided by National Academy funds. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide analysis and advice to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology and medicine.