Immigrants Key to Economic Growth in NYC

Immigrants all over the country are starting more businesses than native born. DP

Hispanicbusiness.com: Immigrants in New York City are creating more new businesses than native-born citizens, and they have a similar impact in other major U.S. cities, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report by the New York-based think tank Center for an Urban Future is one response to critics across the country who say America's growing number of immigrants, mostly from Latin America, are straining welfare resources and taking jobs away from citizens.

"Immigrant entrepreneurs remain a shockingly overlooked and little-understood part of cities' economies," the report's authors wrote. The report says cities have done a poor job including immigrant businesses in overall economic planning.

Overall employment in New York City grew by 6.9 percent between 1994 and 2004, but growth in heavily immigrant areas was much higher, the report says. Overall employment in Jackson Heights in the borough of Queens, which has been called the most diverse community in the Unites States, rose by 27.9 percent in the same period. The heavily Asian area of Flushing, also in Queens, saw a 12.1 percent increase.

Over the same period, the number of businesses grew 9.6 percent citywide, but Flushing showed an increase of 54.6 percent.

The report also says Los Angeles County has more Asian-owned and Hispanic-owned businesses than any other county in the United States.

The new report is based on 18 months of research, including analysis of state and federal data and interviews with immigrant business owners and economic development experts.