One of the biggest excuses given for why the undocumented are so bad is that “they” are bad for the economy. They take resources in disproportionate amounts compared to their population. A report released tells a much different story for the 25 largest urban areas in the United States.

In the 25 largest metropolitan areas combined – comprising more than half of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, and two thirds of all immigrants – foreign-born workers are responsible for 20 percent of economic output and make up 20 percent of the population. The same basic relationship holds true, with slight variation, for each of the 25 areas, from metro Pittsburgh, where immigrants represent 3 percent of population and 4 percent of GDP, to metro Miami, where immigrants make up 37 percent of the population and 38 percent of GDP. The report for the first time estimates immigrant share of Gross Domestic Product in metro areas, based on wage and salary earnings plus proprietors’ income.

Another myth that the report shatters is that immigrant labor brings down the wages of non-immigrant labor.

The report shows that immigrants work in all sectors and in all kinds of jobs. In higher-wage occupations, they often have the same earnings as U.S.-born workers. In service occupations, earnings are low for both immigrants and U.S.-born workers. And, in blue-collar jobs, U.S.-born workers can have respectable earnings in the same occupations where immigrants earn substantially less.

Some of the numbers from specific urban areas are staggering, especially when put into the context of the current economic situation. Just looking at my hometown, NYC for example:

* In metro New York, 54 percent of all guards, cleaning and building service workers, 60 percent of dental assistants, health and nursing aides and 54 percent of food service workers are immigrants.

The report also makes a connection between cities that have low immigrant growth and low economic growth.

* Of the five largest metro areas in the East, metro Philadelphia experienced the slowest economic growth and the slowest growth in immigrant workers.

The United States runs thanks to immigrants and if people want to get real about helping to boost the economy then they need to get real of the important role that immigrant labor in all sectors. The only way this can happen is by erasing the mythology of the lazy, shiftless immigrant who takes advantage of the United States. If anything, reality tells us the opposite, that the Unites States immigration system, based on enforcement, isn’r just hurting the immigrants and their families. It’s hurting everyone.

You can read the full report here.

Via / National Institute for Latino Policy