Labor Pool: Foreigners Wanted
Written by Livia Gershon
Monday, 03 March 2008
Two new studies say immigrants can boost the economy


Over the past month, two new reports have called attention to the importance of immigrant workers in the state, and in Central Massachusetts in particular.

The first, by the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, argues that the state depends on new arrivals from other countries to keep its population stable, fill jobs and pay taxes as many native-born workers move away or retire. Since 2000, it says, the state has experienced an annual net loss of 46,000 U.S.-born residents heading to other states, but that loss was partially compensated for by a net gain of 31,770 residents from other countries. The percentage of the state’s work force made up by immigrants grew from 8.8 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2004.

Getting To School

The second report, by a task force that the Colleges of Worcester Consortium created last August, points out that there are barriers to college education for many immigrants. These include both a lack of information about things like applications and financial aid, and gaps in K-12 education, including insufficient support for students trying to learn English.

The report’s recommendations include creating a centralized web site on college applications aimed at the local immigrant populations, letting K-12 students take some classes in their native language while they learn English, training more teachers to work with students who aren’t native English speakers and giving financial aid to students who are waiting to get a green card. The report doesn’t take a position on Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan to let undocumented immigrants who have lived in the state for years get in-state rates at Massachusetts colleges.

Both reports are unabashedly pro-immigrant, which is not surprising considering that MIRA is an advocate for immigrants’ rights and that the Consortium task force includes members of MIRA and other immigrant organizations. That irritates some people, including a number of readers who wrote in to respond to an online newspaper article on the Consortium report. They wrote things like “No educational assistance should be provided illegal immigrants until every American who wants an education is provided one,â€