Voting and Demographics
The growth in the immigrant population has helped to strengthen and remake America over the last two decades. Today, as thousands of baby boomers retire each day, working-age immigrants are filling gaps in the labor market, paying billions of dollars in taxes that help our entitlement programs survive, and buying homes in communities that would otherwise be in decline. Millions of immigrants have also earned U.S. citizenship and the right to vote while millions more are estimated to be eligible to naturalize.
Diversity extends to business as immigrants open up shop
“People complain about this country, but there are so many (business) opportunities here you don’t even have time to get to them all.” So says Jose Brito, a native of the Dominican Republic who came to the United States 20 years ago. The 40-year-old is the founder and CEO of… Read More
Immigration Reform Needed to Boost Small Business Workforce
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation recently that seeks to revoke the president’s recent executive actions on immigration reform, which is disappointing news for small employers looking for qualified workers. We know from our polling that having access to a qualified workforce is of paramount importance to entrepreneurs looking… Read More
The Most Entrepreneurial Group in America Wasn’t Born in America
Derek Cha arrived in America as a 12-year-old with his parents and three siblings. They came for familiar reasons: “In 1977, South Korea was a poor country,” Cha says. “My parents were looking for better opportunities and education for us.” After the family settled in California, his mother worked as… Read More
Poll: Democrats start 2016 with advantage among Latinos
Republican leaders have spent two years since the 2012 election warning that the party needs to improve its standing with Latino voters. But things aren’t looking any better heading into 2016 presidential election, according to the latest NBC/WSJ/Telemundo poll. Some 61% of Latino voters reported that they… Read More
Report: Nevada Hispanics increasingly helping drive state’s economy
The Hispanic community is a growing force driving Nevada’s economy, boosting demand for goods, services and homes. While the community’s full economic impact is difficult to gauge — in part, due to underreporting of income in U.S. Census… Read More
Hispanics responsible for $56.6B in annual Florida spending, $5.1B in tax revenue
Hispanics in Florida now account for an estimated $56.6 billion in annual spending power, according to a new report from the Partnership for a New American Economy. The growing earnings of Hispanic households also have made them major contributors to Florida and U.S. tax revenues. In… Read More
Does Hispanic Consumer, Taxpayer Strength Help Immigration Reform?
Immigration reform opponents frequently argue that undocumented immigrants are a drain on our economy and government services. But a new study hopes to refute that idea – and show how strong a consumer and taxpaying force Hispanics are. Partnership for a New American Economy is a group of government and business… Read More
Report shows big Hispanic spending
DENVER – A new report highlights big spending and tax revenue from native and foreign-born Hispanics in an effort to push federal immigration reform. The report, from Partnership for a New American Economy, a centrist pro-comprehensive immigration-reform group, points to $12.3 billion in annual… Read More
Report Shows Hispanics Responsible for $605 Billion in Annual U.S. Spending Power, $190 Billion in Tax Revenue
CONTACT Ryan Williams, New American Economy, [email protected] One Out of Every Ten Dollars of Spending Power in U.S. in 2013 Held by Hispanics New York, NY — Today, the New American Economy released a new report highlighting the important role that both native and foreign-born… Read More
The Power of the Purse: The Contributions of Hispanics to America’s Spending Power and Tax Revenues in 2013
The Partnership for a New American Economy’s new report, “The Power of the Purse: The Contributions of Hispanics to America’s Spending Power and Tax Revenues in 2013,” highlights the important role that both native and foreign-born Hispanics play as consumers and taxpayers, as well as their contributions to Medicare and… Read More
Immigrant Population Growth
Both the number and the share of immigrants in America are increasing, with the U.S. Census Bureau projecting that between 2027 and 2038 international migration will be the primary driver of U.S. population growth for the first time in two centuries.1 The trend is already underway. Between 1990 and 2014, the number of immigrants living in America more than doubled. By 2014, more than one in eight Americans were foreign-born. Immigrants play a particularly important role in California, where they make up more than one out of every four residents.
Sources:
1 U.S. Census Bureau, “International Migration is Projected to Become Primary Driver of U.S. Population Growth for First Time in Nearly Two Centuries,” press release (2013), accessed July 30, 2014. Available online.
Share of Population, Foreign-Born
Mitigating Baby Boomer Retirement
The ratio of seniors to working-age adults in America has remained relatively constant since 1980, at about 240 seniors for every 1,000 workers. With the Baby Boomers’ retirement, however, the ratio is poised to jump a stunning 67 percent in the next two decades, to 411 seniors for every 1,000 workers.2 Already, less than half the U.S.-born population is working-age, or between the ages of 25 and 64. Meanwhile, almost three-quarters of the foreign-born population fall into that age bracket, allowing them to make important contributions to both the labor force and U.S. tax coffers.
Sources:
2 Dowell Myers, “Immigrants’ Contributions in an Aging America,” Community Banking, no. Sum (2008): 3–5.
Age Breakdown of Select Populations, 2014
States with the Largest Gap Between Share of Native-Born and Foreign-Born Populations that are Working-Aged, 2014
Housing and Entitlement Contributions
Because immigrants are far more likely to be working-age, they play an important role contributing to the entitlement programs that help seniors as they age. One NAE study found that between 1996 and 2011 immigrants contributed $182.4 billion more to Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund—the core trust fund in the program—than was expended on their care. Immigrants also have made up roughly one in seven homebuyers in recent years, often purchasing the homes of Baby Boomers as they retire.
Amount Immigrants Contributed to Entitlement Programs, 2014
States where Immigrants Made up the Largest Share of Homebuyers, 2010-2014
Fueling Growth in New Destination States
Before 1990, nearly three-quarters of immigrants lived in one of six gateway states: California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.3 By 2010, those states’ share had started to drop significantly, to 65 percent, as immigrants increasingly began settling in new-destination states, such as Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, and Washington. As immigrants move into new states, they help offset brain drain and population decline, often filling positions that would have remained vacant otherwise. The more than 10,000 immigrants that moved to North Dakota between 2010 and 2014, for instance, helped fill labor gaps created when locals took well-paid jobs during the shale oil boom.4
Sources:
3 The Pew Charitable Trusts, “U.S. Immigration: National and State Trends and Actions” (November 2013). Available online.
4 Jack Nicas, “North Dakota City Draws Foreign Workers,” Wall Street Journal, 2012, sec. Business. Available online.
States with Largest Percent Increase in Number of Immigrants, 2010-2014
Voting Power and Citizenship
As more immigrants naturalize and become eligible to vote, they will continue to gain power at the voting booth. Nationally, almost 20 million foreign-born citizens were eligible to vote in the 2016 election. By 2020, that figure is projected to rise to 21.2 million. In some states, foreign-born voters are already capable of deciding elections. In Nevada, for instance, almost 256,000 immigrants were eligible to vote in 2016, a number more than nine times higher than Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory in the state that year.
Eligible Immigrant Voters Versus Number of Votes that Decided Presidential Result in Key States, 2016
Immigrants Eligible to Naturalize in Selected States and the United States, 2017
Diversifying the Electorate
Although the white working class played a significant role in the 2016 election, demographic trends mean they will see their influence decline in future electoral contests. While only 11.2 percent of the current U.S. senior population identifies as Hispanic or Asian-American, 27.8 percent of those graduating from high school in the next decade do.5 This means that between 2015 and 2024, the share of the electorate that is white is projected to decline by 4.4 percent. The share that will be both white and working class will see even steeper declines, falling by 5.5 percent. Given this reality, politicians hoping to remain competitive in key states in the future will need to ensure that they do not ignore the needs of Hispanic and Asian voters, many of whom are immigrants.
Sources:
5 2013 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.
Projected Decline in the Share of Electorate that is White Working Class in Key States, 2015-2024
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