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Prosperity Reigns Where Immigrants Live

Prosperity Reigns Where Immigrants Live

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The hypocrisy of Trumponomics is laid bare by the demonizing of undocumented workers as the Trump Organization profits from them. With so many Trump hotels, residential buildings and golf courses located where migrants are numerous, Employer-in-Chief Donald Trump has enjoyed the economic benefits of immigration. That’s because states with the greatest concentration of immigrants create the most jobs and biggest increase in personal income. Where immigrants are relatively scarce, states generate the fewest jobs and smallest rise in income.

A record 43.7 million immigrants were living in the U.S. in 2016, representing 13.5% of the population, according to the Pew Research Center. That's more than a fourfold increase since 1960, when 9.7 million immigrants represented 5.4% of the total. The relationship between prosperity and immigrants — authorized or not — is definitive, according to data among the 20 largest states compiled by Bloomberg.

California and Texas, the top two manufacturing states in 2017, relied on at least 6% of their labor from undocumented immigrants, according to Pew. In agriculture, where California dominates the nation with $35.6 billion of annual receipts, unauthorized immigrants can make up as much as 17% of the workforce each year.

Personal income in the five states with the highest proportion of immigrants — California (26.6%), New York (23%), New Jersey (22.2%), Florida (19.3%) and Texas (16.1%) — has increased 10.1 percent since Trump became president nearly two-and-a-half years ago. Personal income for New York City, home to some of Trump's signature businesses, advanced 11 percent since 2017, enabling New York to outperform 42 of the 50 states. Income for the five states with the lowest immigrant ratios — Indiana (5%), Wisconsin (4.8%), Tennessee (4.8%), Ohio (4.3%) and Missouri (4%) — improved 8.3 percent. Missouri, which has the lowest percentage of immigrants among the 20 most-populous states, experienced income growth of 8.2%, just below the national average, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.

The job market in the five states with the highest immigrant ratios grew 3.9% since Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017. Employment in Florida, home to Trump's 128-room, 62,500-square-foot mansion at the Mar-a-Lago resort, increased 5.7% during the past 12 months. Jobs in the health-care industry, where Pew says as much as 25% of the immigrant population is employed, increased 31%.

“Here in Central Florida, the business community is bolstered by the presence of immigrant entrepreneurs who have made their homes here, started businesses, created jobs and contributed to the communities in which they're headquartered,” wrote Kelsey Sunderland and Cindy Barth in the Orlando Business Journal in February.

Job creation in the five states with the lowest immigrant ratios suffers by comparison, averaging 2.3% since 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Missouri could manage nothing more than a 1.5% increase in employment during the same period. But even in the Show-Me state, immigrants were the best part of the growth story: Health-care jobs surged 38% last year, outperforming every other industry, according to Bloomberg data.

Strong regional economies with lots of jobs, high wages and other advantages naturally attract migrants looking for opportunity. They then become an essential force in extending prosperity in the places that welcome them.

“The state benefits from immigrants' active participation in the economy — from working in Missouri's service industries to accounting for nearly 15% of residents working in the life, physical and social sciences,” says an October report by the American Immigration Council. “As workers, business owners, taxpayers and neighbors, immigrants are an integral part of Missouri's diverse and thriving communities and make extensive contributions that benefit all.”

As Trump continues to assail and limit immigration, he might want to be careful what he wishes for. He does business where the immigrants are because they get the job done.

--With assistance from Shin Pei.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Matthew A. Winkler is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the editor-in-chief emeritus of Bloomberg News.

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.