New Study Finds Immigrants Boost Florida's Economy
Posted August 18, 2016 07:45 am | Public News Service
Tallahassee, FL –
As the debate over immigration policy rages on, a new
study finds immigrants play a vital role in Florida's
economy.
The Partnership for a New American Economy says 20
percent of Florida's population was born abroad, giving
the state the fourth highest immigrant population in the
nation.
Jeremy Robbins, the group's executive director, says the
immigrant workforce - nearly 70 percent of which is
working age - is helping to support and replace
Florida's rapidly aging, native-born population, where
nearly one-in-five is already elderly.
"When you think about who's going to support Social
Security, who's going to care for seniors, who's going
to replace the workers that are leaving, that's hugely
important," he stresses.
The study found that 33 percent of the state's
entrepreneurs are foreign born, with immigrant-owned
businesses in Florida generating $5.2 billion in 2014.
Robbins says the low-skilled immigrant workforce is
doing work, including in agriculture and tourism, that
many highly educated, native-born Floridians aren't
willing to do. In his view, immigration reform could
help workers all around.
"If you want to have a system that is sustainable, you
don't want to have a system that depends on undocumented
labor," he states. "You want a system that has actual,
legal ways to get the workers that we are hiring anyway
and that we need, and I think that is better for
everyone involved."
About 4 percent of Florida's population is made up of
undocumented immigrants. Across the country, it's
estimated more than 85 percent of the undocumented
population is working.
Image added by the Observer
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