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Article: How immigrants make economy grow; Pool of workers fills gap left by declining U.S. birthrates.(PAGE ONE)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- May 1, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Washington Times LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Patrice Hill, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Immigrant labor - both legal and illegal - has been an important force propelling U.S. economic growth for years.
Growth in the native population has been in decline since the 1970s, so immigrant workers have filled in, providing half of the growth in the U.S. labor force since 1990. A basic rule of economics dictates that the economy in the long run can grow only as fast as the increase in the pool of workers, plus the growth in their productivity - or output per worker.
Immigrant workers, like all American workers, not only contribute their labor but further propel growth by liberally spending the ...