CLEVELAND, Ohio - As Americans grapple over whether the nation's immigration laws are too rigid or not strict enough, a new report from Cleveland State University's Center for Population Dynamics offers a detailed snapshot of Ohio's 513,592 immigrants, from their national origins to their challenges assimilating to life in the Midwest.
"Our Pathway to a Brighter Future: Ohio's New Americans," based on research by HealthLandscape in Cincinnati, says Ohio's newest residents could help reverse its declining population, provide much-needed innovation and diversity of ideas, and offer a solution to its looming shortage of workers in fields like healthcare. The study was written by Richey Piiparinen, director of the Center for Population Dynamics, a research center within Cleveland State's College of Urban Affairs.
"Like immigrants throughout our history, today's newest Americans offer Ohio increased diversity, energy, labor, social capital, and dreams of a better life for all," Piiparinen writes. "We have a critical role to play in making those dreams come true."
The report says Ohio's population lost about 183,000 native-born Ohioans over the past six years. But over that same period, nearly 113,000 immigrants moved into the state, "helping stabilize Ohio's population, and are, in fact, a source of growth."
The most educated state in the nation for immigrants
Ohio also ranks as "the most educated state in the nation for immigrants:" 42.1 percent of the immigrants in both Ohio and Maryland have at least a four-year college degree. But Ohio's population of 11.7 million is nearly double that of Maryland's 6.1 million, which means it has significantly more college graduates.
In comparison, "only 26.7 percent of native-born Ohioans have a four-year degree or higher," and that 15.4 percentage-point gap between the two groups is the widest divide in the nation.
The study uses the U.S. Census definition of immigrants as "anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth. This includes those who have become U.S. citizens through naturalization," as well as undocumented immigrants, "regardless of legal status."
Joe Cimperman, president of Global Cleveland, which works to connect international newcomers to opportunities in Greater Cleveland, says the economic arguments for welcoming immigrants outweigh the political arguments for keeping them out.
"The people who are coming here want to assimilate and earn a seat at the table. So many people who are coming here have advanced degrees" to take jobs where there are shortages, especially in STEM fields, he said. "To prevent them from coming is really economic suicide."
In Cuyahoga County, 41.5 percent of the county's 87,819 foreign-born residents have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 29.9 percent of native-born Ohioans in the county.
"Ohio's highly educated immigrants work primarily in management, business, science, and the arts," and "more than other states, Ohio's immigrants teach and provide personal/medical care for Ohioans," the report said.
Among the five lowest states for immigrants
However, Ohio's foreign-born residents as a percentage of the state's population places it among the bottom five states. Only 4.4 percent of Ohio's population was born outside of the U.S., compared with 27.2 percent in California, 23 percent in New York, and 13.6 percent of the nation as a whole.
Amy Hanauer, founding executive director of Policy Matters Ohio, the nonprofit policy research think-tank, said she was surprised to hear that Ohio ranks among the bottom five states for the percentage of immigrants in its population.
Seventy-five percent of Ohio's residents were born in Ohio, making it the third most homogeneous state in the nation after Louisiana and Michigan. Among the top 40 metro areas, Columbua (7.6 percent), Cleveland (5.9 percent) and Cincinnati (4.5 percent) are all in the single digits in terms of percentage of their populations who were born outside the U.S.
Another major change is that before 1900, the largest number of Ohio's immigrants came from Germany (78 percent) and Canada (51 percent). After 1990, the largest share of immigrants have come from India, Mexico, and China.
Recent immigrants tend to be either more educated than native-born Ohioans, what Hanauer calls "very highly educated folks taking very specific positions," or more willing than native-born Ohioans to accept jobs requiring fewer skills and less education. One out of four immigrants with a college degree is working in a low-skilled industry for less money.
She says the reason more immigrants aren't moving to Ohio is because "we are not a growing economy, we're losing population overall, and we've had very low job growth compared to the rest of the nation," especially jobs in the service sector.
Hanauer says the things that would help attract immigrants like raising the minimum wage and increasing enforcement of labor and wage laws, because immigrants are especially vulnerable to exploitation, would also benefit native-born Ohioans.
"Immigrants fill the most physically and emtionally demanding jobs"
The report says Ohio needs to do more to support its newer residents, including about 83,000 undocumented immigrants, many of whom require access to affordable legal services, for example. Fewer than 35 immigration lawyers in Ohio are able to accept cases regardless of their clients' immigration status or ability to pay. Yet in deportation cases, those with lawyers are 10 times more likely to win their cases.
Unauthorized immigrants also need better healthcare, including physical, oral, and culturally appropriate mental health services. "Ohio is among a handful of states that does not provide public health insurance to undocumented children and pregnant women," and excludes non-citizens from SNAP benefits, contributing to Ohio's reputation as one of the worst states for undocumented immigrants.
In a state where 16.3 percent of the population is 65 or older, having access to healthcare workers, from physicians and specialists to personal care and home health aides will become even more critical. "Immigrants fill the most physically and emtionally demanding jobs at least in part because the low pay and hard work is a disincentive to native-born workers."
As Ohioans age and the number of native-born residents able to fill those jobs declines, "we will experience a shortage of personal care and home health workers unless we have greater immigration," the report said. Whereas the largest population of native-born Ohioans are ages 50 to 65, the greatest population of foreign-born Ohioans are ages 25 to 44.
"Ohio's immigrants are both motivated and optimistic, and they spur economic and community growth," the report says, and supporting them in ways that ease their assimilation will "brighten the future for all Ohioans."