Immigrants keep Mass. humming
Boston Globe, November 21, 1999
By Lawrence K. Fish and Tripp JonesNot a day goes by without the business pages profiling an exciting start-up venture or announcing yet another corporate expansion. But have you ever wondered where all of these thriving Massachusetts companies, large and small, are finding their new employees?
A new report, “The Changing Workforce: Immigrants and the New Economy in Massachusetts,” published by Citizens Bank and the nonpartisan think tank MassINC – the Massachusetts Institute for a new Commonwealth – revealed that since the mid-1980s, foreign immigrants, not native-born workers, have accounted for an astonishing 82 percent of the growth in the state’s labor force.
Even more surprising, the Massachusetts population would actually have shrunk in every decade since the 1970s were it not for foreign immigration. If not for foreign immigration, the New England labor force – people working or looking for work – would be smaller by 20,000 people than in 1990.
To be sure, these facts are at odds with conventional wisdom. Most people think of Southern and Western states as the places where immigrants are most visible as cultural and economic influences. They are only partly right.
In absolute terms, a much higher number of immigrants settle each year in California or Texas than in Massachusetts. However, when measured as a percentage of the state’s overall labor force growth, the five states most dependent on foreign immigration to generate that growth are Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
What’s especially interesting is how the educational background of our more recent immigrants is changing for the better. Only 22 percent of those who arrived prior to 1990 had a bachelor’s or higher degree. The same percentage held true for the national immigrant population as well. But for immigrants arriving since 1990, fully 33 percent of those coming to Massachusetts had a bachelor’s or more advanced degree, while the percentage nationally improved only marginally to 23 percent.
Of course, that number may still not be nearly high enough for Massachusetts business leaders who are battling to increase the number of special visas in order to help fill the chronic labor shortages in several industries. But it’s worth noting that the changing demographics of immigrants to Massachusetts are already working in our favor.
For example, in the increasingly technologically intensive manufacturing sector, the presence of immigrant workers is pronounced. More immigrants are employed in the manufacturing sector than in any other sector of the state economy. And while immigrants constitute just under 13 percent of the total number of those employed in Massachusetts, they accounted for 22 or every 100 employees in the state’s manufacturing industries.
Immigrants are present in other areas of the economy. “The Changing Workforce” found that foreign-born workers were more than twice as likely as native-born workers to be university and college teachers and were also modestly more likely to be employed as engineers, physical scientists and computer scientists.
As one of the region’s largest employers, the experience of Citizens Bank shows the importance of recognizing immigrants as key workers and customers. Ten percent of Citizens 6,000 employees speak English as their second language. Across 300 New England branches, Citizens employees speak 75 different languages.
Since immigrant workers have become an increasingly important part of our labor pool, the hurdles and limitations that many face are becoming vital to our state’s long-term economic health.
For example, while the percentage of immigrants with college degrees is increasing in Massachusetts, it is still true that most immigrants to Massachusetts have only a high school degree or less. The state’s poverty rate for immigrant families is three times higher than the poverty rate for native-born families. This ought to raise eyebrows when one considers that of the people in Massachusetts under 18, one in four is an immigrant or has immigrant parents.
These facts suggest that many of today’s immigrant workers have yet to find a rung on the ladder of economic opportunity. And immigrant children - the Massachusetts work force of tomorrow – are at risk of being left behind in the new economy as well.
Fortunately, we face these challenges during an unusual window of opportunity. With urgent competitiveness concerns at stake, business leaders across the state and New England have come to recognize their deep interest in the well-being of immigrant workers and customers.
At the same time, the economy’s overall health and state government’s strong fiscal position leave us in the happy circumstance of debating where to change policies and shift budget priorities to best help our immigrant population.
Whatever the outcome of that public policy debate, one thing is certain: Immigrant workers and their children are going to make an important contribution to our state’s economy in the next decade. The sooner we figure out how to maximize the value of their contribution, the better off all Massachusetts residents – foreign and native-born – will be.
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Lawrence K. Fish is Chairman & CEO of Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Tripp Jones is Executive Director of MassINC.
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