After All That Angst; Immigrants are a Positive for Arizona Economy!
From of All Places Fox 11 Arizona, July 13th, Brady McCombs of the Arizona Daily Star
Immigrants are a $222 million fiscal gain for Arizona and their departure would result in a $29 billion annual loss in economic output, according to a study released by the UA.
The annual tax revenue generated by immigrant labor, $1.64 billion, outweighed estimated fiscal costs, $1.41 billion, for a net gain of $222.6 million, researchers concluded after analyzing figures from 2004. Immigrants accounted for nearly $44 billion, or 12 percent, of the state’s economic output, resulting in 399,000 full-time-equivalent jobs, the study found.
The analysis, released this week, was intended to increase the understanding of the economic impact of immigration in Arizona, said Judith Gans, the study’s author and immigration-policy program manager at the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. The 1 1/2-year study was funded by the Thomas R. Brown Foundation in Tucson, which funds academic research and promotes education about the economy.
“The more we have good data about what’s at stake, the more calmly we can look at this issue,” said Gans. “By focusing so much on security in some squares, it’s easy to ignore what it might cost us economically.” Click here to read more at Fox News Channel 11.
July 14th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Nice to see what Judith Gans is up to. She was our featured speaker early this spring.
Republicans and the anti-immigrant, racists like Russell Pearce, have told us repeatedly that immigrants were a huge drain on our economy. It now appears that one job in eight depends on their presence here in Arizona.