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What immigrants really mean to Ohio

By
Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal, ohiocapitaljournal.com

After a campaign based around anti-immigrant sentiments, President-elect Donald Trump’s victory has created worries over the future of new Americans and those considering immigrating. However, immigrants play a vital role in the Ohio economy.

According to the American Immigration Council, “about 4.9 percent of the state’s residents are foreign-born, and 2.4 percent of its U.S.-born residents live with at least one immigrant parent.”

The AIC found immigrants make up 6.1 percent of Ohio’s labor force, while also accounting for eight percent of entrepreneurs, 11.7 percent of STEM workers and five percent of nurses in the state.

“As neighbors, business owners, taxpayers and workers, immigrants are an integral part of Ohio’s diverse and thriving communities and make extensive contributions that benefit all,” the council stated.

In addition, Ohio farmers say they depend on immigrant workers and say they’re desperate for government reforms to ease labor flows.

In Springfield, Haitian immigrants have been credited with filling warehouse jobs and helping to revitalize what had been a struggling economy.

Even so, Trump and his vice president-elect, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, this summer pushed the racist lie that Haitian newcomers were stealing their neighbors' pets and eating them.

But what roles do immigrants actually play in Ohio? According to the Immigration Council, in 2022 they:

• Paid $7 billion in taxes

• Spent $18.6 billion

• Primarily were from India, 11 percent, Mexico, 7.7 percent, China, 5.1 percent, the Philippines, 3.1 percent, and Canada, 2.5 percent

• 37,200 were entrepreneurs earning $944 million

• Made up 26.9 percent of Ohio’s doctors, 26 percent of software developers, 16.6 percent of postsecondary teachers, 10.3 percent of cooks, 5 percent of nurses and 8.6 percent of health aids

• 34,204 of Ohio’s college students were immigrants who made a $1.2 billion economic contribution

• Ohio’s 103,900 undocumented immigrants paid $616.2 million in taxes and 9,600 of them were entrepreneurs

• 52,600 immigrants were refugees with a 97 percent employment rate, and who paid $405.3 million in taxes.

Research has shown that immigration also boosts innovation, with increasing numbers of immigrants to an area correlating to increased patent applications.

However, it can come with downsides. For example, a 2016 paper published by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School said that strong immigration can initially depress the wages of the native-born.

“Most empirical studies indicate long-term benefits for natives’ employment and wages from immigration, although some studies suggest that these gains come at the cost of short-term losses from lower wages and higher unemployment,” the paper said. “Standard economic theory implies that while higher labor supply from immigration may initially depress wages, over time firms increase investment to restore the amount of capital per worker, which then restores wages.”

Marty Schladen has been a reporter for decades, working in Indiana, Texas and other places before returning to his native Ohio to work at The Columbus Dispatch in 2017. He's won state and national journalism awards for investigations into utility regulation, public corruption, the environment, prescription drug spending and other matters.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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