Immigrants contributed 2 trillion dollars to the economy in 2015-16 and Indians are "the most entrepreneurial" of all groups, a new US report on immigration claims, countering the premise that immigrants are a drain on the world's largest economy.
In a report titled the Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration, experts from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine said that the estimated gross development product (GDP) growth due to immigrants' contributions amounted to nearly 2 trillion dollars in the US.
The report takes a comprehensive look at the fiscal and economic impact of immigration and confirms research from the past decade that showed immigrants and their descendants made valuable contributions to economic growth, innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States.
"Indian immigrants are the most entrepreneurial of any group including natives, and immigrant businesses represent more than a quarter of businesses in the transportation, accommodation, and recreation and entertainment sectors," it said.
It also found that immigration helps to slow the aging of American society, and labour force growth from 2020 and 2030 will "depend completely on immigrants and their US-born descendants."
There is little to no negative effects on the wages or overall employment levels of native-born workers, it asserted saying "any negative effects were small and were experienced primarily by other recent immigrants and those who did not graduate high school."
The question whether immigrants are a drain on the US economy has been at the heart of a furious debate. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying they "compete directly against vulnerable American workers."
His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has said immigrants contribute to the US economy whether they are here legally or not.
The report has observed that the children of immigrants are among the strongest economic and fiscal contributors in the US population overall and educating all children is an important investment that will reap rewards in the future.
