Report: Immigrants inject $1.6B into Neb. economy

This report shows that immigrants add to Nebraska's economy and create jobs. And the loss of foreign born workers will cost $13.5 billion and thousands of jobs. DP

By JEAN ORTIZ

columbustelegram.com: OMAHA, Neb. - Immigrants add $1.6 billion annually in spending to the state's economy and fill a critical role in the work force, according to a new study that was to be released Wednesday by the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Officials with the university's Office of Latino/Latin American Studies, or OLLAS, who issued the report called the study the first statewide quantitative assessment of the contributions Nebraska immigrants - both legal and illegal - make to the state's economy.

Available data didn't allow the report's authors to differentiate between the economic impact of illegal versus legal immigrants.

But the policy brief does make a few inferences - the first being that undocumented migrants are largely employed and are contributing to production, employment and taxes similar to legal immigrants.

"Moreover, it would be reasonable to also assume that the economic contributions of unauthorized immigrants are more than likely underestimated by all accounts, and that their public costs are likely lower than for authorized immigrants or the native born as a whole," a draft of the policy brief says.

The report's author, Christopher Decker, an assistant professor of economics, was traveling and unavailable for comment on the study's methodology or other details Tuesday. Jerry Deichert with the university's Center for Public Affairs Research also contributed to the report.

According to a draft of an policy brief that summarizes the report's key findings and lays out policy recommendations, immigrants created about 12,000 jobs across all sectors of the state's economy in 2006.

And the loss of the foreign-born work force could cost the state $13.5 billion and thousands of jobs.
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