New Data Report Highlights Economic Impact of Immigrants in Ohio
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: AUGUST 3, 2016
Partnership for a New American Economy (NAE) released a report today that highlights new research on the contributions of immigrants in Ohio. The report was released in collaboration with Welcome Toledo-Lucas County (TLC), and other Ohio Welcoming Initiatives including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton. The NAE brings together more than 500 Republican, Democratic, and Independent mayors and business leaders united in making the economic case for streamlining, modernizing, and rationalizing our immigration system.
The Contributions of New Americans in Ohio shows that immigrants make up four percent of the state's population and contributed $4.4 billion in taxes in 2014. Of that foreign-born population in the state, their total income for 2014 was $15.6 billion, or 5.2 percent of all earnings in the state.
Immigrants in Ohio contribute to key industries, such as tourism, healthcare, and manufacturing. They make up seven percent of all entrepreneurs in the state, and play a large role in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, a major component of U.S. economic growth. These and other key statistics on immigrants in Ohio can be found in the NAE report here.
"The valuable contributions of the Ohio immigrant community found in the NAE report reflects what we see in our Toledo immigrant community," says Eugenio Mollo, Jr., co-chair of Welcome TLC and managing attorney of immigrant rights work with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE).
Welcome TLC plans to utilize the data found in the report to further make the case to the local community to join in advancing a more inclusive and global Toledo-Lucas County.
"Immigrants are partially offsetting our local population loss, having a positive impact on our local economy through spending power and local and state tax contributions, and revitalizing our neighborhoods through entrepreneurship and starting main street businesses," adds Guisselle Mendoza, co-chair of Welcome TLC and executive director of Adelante, The Latino Community and Resource Center.
The state of Ohio report was released by NAE as a Day of Action to mark the launch of the Reason for Reform campaign, an effort taking place in all 50 states today to urge Congress to take action on immigration reform. In December 2015, NAE released a data report on the valuable contributions of Toledo's immigrant community titled, New Americans in Toledo: A Snapshot of the Demographic and Economic Contributions of Immigrants. More information on both reports and the campaign can be found at www.RenewOurEconomy.org.
Download the report: The Contributions of New Americans in Ohio (PDF)
