A new study could change the discourse of the role of immigrant families in helping the state economy.
TRENTON -- New Jersey's immigrant population is an overall boon to the state's economy, a new study touted by the MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce says.
At a public announcement of the study Wednesday, in Trenton, speakers lauded the New American Economy report, saying it further exemplifies the national need for comprehensive and updated immigration reform.
Jeremy Robbins, Executive Director of New American Economy, said that the biggest surprise to him was the raw numbers in the data that illustrate what an asset immigrants are to the state and national economy.
As immigrants make up 22 percent of New Jersey's population, their economic activity makes a large impact on multiple market forces.
Here are five of the study's findings.
Immigrants are job makers -- not takers.
Thirty-two percent of entrepreneurs in New Jersey are immigrants, and Robbins said this is happening for two reasons.
One is that people who are willing to leave their homeland in search of opportunity, are inherent risk takers. People inclined to immigrate are predisposed to being proactive members of the workforce and adventurous in shaping their future.
The other reason is that immigrants face more roadblocks along the traditional path to employment. They often have less education opportunities afforded to them and are less likely to know someone who can get them a job.
As a result, immigrants are more likely to have to make their own way, he says.
Immigrant-owned businesses earned $3.2 billion for New Jersey in 2014 and employed 270,431 people.
Immigrants are an asset to Social Security and Medicare.
In 2014, the state's immigrant-led households earned $74.2 billion -- 23.7 percent of all income -- contributing more than one in every four dollars to state and local taxes.
They also paid $9.2 billion into Social Security and Medicare programs during the same year.
Immigrants are here to work
Immigrants in New Jersey are 40 percent more likely to work than native-born New Jerseyans, partly because they tend to be of working age and partly because they shore up for a lack of American worker's skills.
Seventy-four percent of immigrants fall into the working age category, while only 48 percent of the native population is in the same range.
Nonimmigrants typically fall into the middle of the education spectrum. They are more likely to be educated at a high school or bachelor's degree levels.
Immigrants fall on the extreme of those ends. They are simultaneously more likely to hold a degree higher than a bachelor's or to not hold a high school degree. This makes immigrants well suited for jobs that native born residents are over or under qualified to fill.
Immigrants want STEM jobs.
Immigrants represent 40 percent of all STEM workers in the state. In 2014, there were 9.5 job openings in STEM related fields for every one unemployed STEM worker.
That same year, students on temporary visas made up about 33 percent of STEM master's degree students in the state and 40 percent of PhD STEM students.
Many of those students can't stay in the country after graduation so they return to their home country where they become competitors in the international market, said Nicholas Montalto, President of Diversity Dynamics, LLC.
Immigrants ease losses associated with an aging baby boomer population
Healthcare is projected to grow faster by 2024 than any other industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This is partly due to an increasing number of insured individuals --17 million from 2013 to 2015 -- and partly due to the country's 76.4 million aging baby boomers.
In New Jersey one in every seven residents are elderly.
The state has 5.4 job openings in the healthcare field for every one unemployed healthcare worker. Immigrants are filling these roles.
More than one in three physicians in the state graduated from a foreign medical school. Forty percent of doctors and 53 percent of psychiatrists were foreign educated and 29 percent of nurses and 41 percent of home health aides are foreign born.
People are also more likely sell a house than buy a house once they reach the age of 65, says Robbins. In the 1950s there were 16 workers for every senior citizen. Now there are 3 workers for every senior citizen and soon there will only be 2, he says.
Immigrants can fill a housing market that will be in need of home buyers.
In 2014, immigrant households held more than $159 billion in the state's housing wealth -- more than one in every four dollars. They also paid over one third of the rent costs while making up less than one fourth of the state's households. In a state where 29 percent of homeowners are elderly, immigrant families are one of the best hopes at filling the void and strengthening the market.
Policy suggestions
At the MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce, speakers were adamant that the study's findings should play a role in state and federal discourse on immigration reform.
One specific policy that Montalto thinks should be overhauled is the current practice of issuing visas to people based on the applicants already having family members living in America.
He thinks visas should be issued based on the needs of the job market and the skills of those applying for immigration.
Greg Wright may be reached at gwright@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregTheWright. Find NJ.com on Facebook.