As the poster child for the melting pot, New York City enjoys a unique ability to drive the national debate on immigration. That gives our mayor-elect a unique opportunity at a time when Washington has stalled on immigration reform.
According to a new report called “The Newest New Yorkers” from the Department of City Planning, our foreign-born population has reached a high of roughly 37%.
Though the Dominican Republic supplies the largest share of immigrants here, Chinese and Mexicans are catching up.
Pretty clearly, this has all been a boon for the city. “Immigrants certainly build neighborhoods,” says Joseph Salvo, director of the population division at City Planning. “We want to help people who help the city, and that’s where the value is here, because this does not exist.”
The study’s finding that immigrants constitute a “continuous injection of economic vitality” comports with other studies that show them to be disproportionately entrepreneurial.
Only a year ago, for example, a study of immigration and business put out by the Fiscal Policy Institute noted that, here in Gotham, nearly half our entrepreneurs were born in another country.And most do not have a college degree, proving it’s not essential for running a businesses.
In fact, such is the immigrant role in New York’s economy that they dominate whole industries, from dry cleaners and grocery stores to taxi services and day care. Far from a drag on this city, their businesses create wealth for themselves, jobs and opportunity for their fellow New Yorkers, and more tax revenue for the city’s –coffers.
Bottom line: In New York, immigrants are not only more likely to own small businesses than the native born, they are also more likely to be working.
Alas, because of these same facts, New York’s immigrants are also highly likely to find themselves the most squeezed by a complicated tax code and heavy regulatory system. So an excellent way to encourage immigrants them — as well as boost our economy — would be to start getting our city’s government off their backs.
This should be right up Bill de Blasio’s alley. As public advocate, he rightly complained about the unfair and arbitrary government burdens that are crushing our small business owners.
As Washington dithers on immigration, our new mayor will have a great opportunity to show the nation how a city that truly welcomes immigrants will not only be more diverse, it will be more prosperous as well.