New research from the American Immigration Council shows that immigrants in Pittsburgh contributed approximately $3.5 billion to the city’s gross domestic product (GDP), or 11.1 percent of its GDP. The new report, New Americans in Pittsburgh, was prepared in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh and the City of Pittsburgh’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.
The report also features profiles of community members: Khara Timsina, Brent Rondon, Ebtehal Badawi, and David Hajayandi.
Between 2014 and 2019 the population of Pittsburgh decreased by 1.3 percent and the immigrant population grew by 18.9 percent. Without immigrants coming to the city, the total population would have decreased by 2.7 percent.
The report was produced as part of the Council’s and Welcoming America’s Gateways for Growth Challenge, which includes tailored research on the local immigrant population.
For more information, see our press release.
- Immigrants are helping the city meet its labor force demands. Immigrants made up 9.0 percent of the city’s population but accounted for 9.2 percent of its employed labor force.
- Immigrants are helping Pittsburgh meet its rising labor needs in key industries. Immigrants represented 17.7 percent of STEM workers, 16.1 percent of education workers, and 13.1 percent of manufacturing workers.
- Immigrants support the federal safety net. Immigrants in Pittsburgh contributed $93.9 million to Social Security and $26.8 million to Medicare in 2019.
- Immigrants in Pittsburgh help create or preserve local manufacturing jobs. Immigrants strengthened the local job market by allowing companies to keep jobs on U.S. soil, helping preserve or create 1,200 local manufacturing jobs that would have otherwise been eliminated or moved elsewhere by 2019.
