Thread: Economic impact of immigrants on AZ (University Propaganda)

Published: 07.12.2007
Economic impact of immigrants on AZ
Report: Immigrant work force worth billions
All migrants, legal and illegal, considered in UA calculations
The Arizona Republic

If all noncitizen workers were removed from Arizona's workforce, economic output would drop annually by at least $29 billion, according to a University of Arizona study released Wednesday.
That group, which is mostly illegal immigrants, represents 8.2 percent of the state's economic activity, the study found.
The report also found that Arizona's legal and illegal immigrants generated nearly $44 billion in output.
"Output" includes the value of goods produced in industry, wages and profits.
"I'm not making a stand on what policy should be," said author Judith Gans, a program manager at the university's Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. "This just shows what's at stake."
The study is based on Census Bureau and other data from 2004, the most complete year available. It assumed most noncitizens in the state are illegal immigrants.
Gans conceded that the research does not capture all costs associated with illegal immigrants, but claims it caught significant expenses.
"It is not the purpose of this study to address the myriad issues surrounding illegal immigration or to imply in any way that illegal immigration is not a problem," Gans wrote in the study, funded by the Thomas R. Brown Foundation in Tucson.
The group funds academic research and promotes education about the economy.
Their findings did not surprise Jack Camper, president and CEO of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
Tucson businesses have long known immigrants provide an economic spark. The trick is to make more immigrants legal, Camper said.
"That just speaks to the need for a guest worker program," Camper said. "We need to provide some way to bring 12 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows."
However, the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., research group that advocates slowing immigration, said such studies don't pay enough attention to the basic services that illegal immigrants in Arizona cost the state.
"What about roads, fire protection, police?" research director Steven Camarota said. "There should be some benefit for the native-born population (from immigrants working in the economy). It just appears to be very small and come at the expense of less-educated natives."
Illegal immigrant workers are a drain on the economy, he said.
"But most 40-year-old males in Arizona without a high school diploma who are white are a fiscal drain also," Camarota said.
The study also looked at what would happen to specific industries that lost most noncitizen workers. The figures assumed unskilled citizens would fill some positions.
Without most noncitizen immigrants, the simulations showed:
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Arizona used to be a state which despite close proximity to Mexico had a very small Latino population about 10%. A lot of jobs now filled by Latino illegal immigrants were instead filled by American retirees who came from other states.

And most of the construction jobs were filled by workers who had moved from other states where they couldn't work year round to support their families because of the weather.


Interesting thing in that article is, and I quote:

"It assumed that most noncitizens in the state are illegal immigrants"
Why is it that assuming most noncitizens are illegal aliens for the purposes of pro-illegal propoganda is just fine and dandy but is considered "profiling" and "racial discrimination and harassment" for the purposes of enforcing the law?

Now the AZ Daily STAR version:

Published: 07.13.2007

Study: Immigrants add $222M to Arizona
By Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Immigrants are a $222 million fiscal gain for Arizona and their departure would result in a $29 billion annual loss in economic output, according to a study released by the UA.
The annual tax revenue generated by immigrant labor, $1.64 billion, outweighed estimated fiscal costs, $1.41 billion, for a net gain of $222.6 million, researchers concluded after analyzing figures from 2004. Immigrants accounted for nearly $44 billion, or 12 percent, of the state's economic output, resulting in 399,000 full-time-equivalent jobs, the study found.
The analysis, released this week, was intended to increase the understanding of the economic impact of immigration in Arizona, said Judith Gans, the study's author and immigration-policy program manager at the University of Arizona's Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. The 1 1/2-year study was funded by the Thomas R. Brown Foundation in Tucson, which funds academic research and promotes education about the economy.
"The more we have good data about what's at stake, the more calmly we can look at this issue," said Gans. "By focusing so much on security in some squares, it's easy to ignore what it might cost us economically."
While one national immigration analyst applauded the study, another criticized its methodology.
It didn't adequately calculate all costs associated with immigrants, and thus, is a gross deception, said Steve Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based organization that advocates for slowing immigration.
"It doesn't answer the important question: What's the balance?" Camarota said. "Is it a good deal for us?"
Gans and her team of researchers arrived at their estimated fiscal impact from immigrants by examining the costs incurred by:
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