ImmigrationImmigration reform bill would add 13,992 jobs per congressional district
The Senate’s immigration bill would add, on average, 13,992 new jobs in each congressional district in the United States over the next decade. This is one of the findings of an analysis offered by the conservative American Action Network (AAN). The group supports the reform of the U.S. immigration law and is active in the effort to persuade GOP House members to support the Senate immigration reform bill.
The Senate’s immigration bill would add, on average, 13,992 new jobs in each congressional district in the United States over the next decade.
This is one of the findings of an analysis offered by the conservative American Action Network (AAN). The think tank, which lists former Republican lawmakers Norm Coleman, Jim Nussle, and Vin Weber among its board members, supports the reform of the U.S. immigration law (see, for example, its criticism of the May 2013 Heritage Foundation’s report on the supposed cost of immigration reform: Conservative Criticism of the Heritage Foundation’s 2013 Immigration Study). ABC News reports that the group is active in the effort to persuade GOP House members to support the Senate immigration reform bill.
There is an interactive Web tool on the AAN Web site which allows visitors to see how many jobs will be created in any congressional district as a result of the immigration reform bill.
ABC News notes no district would see fewer than 7,000 jobs created by 2023, and an average of 13,992 new jobs would be created in each.
The figures in the AAN analysis were compiled using data from study of economic data and new worker visas by the Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI), and a Congressional Budget Office report on the impact of the Senate immigration reform bill.
The REMI study
The REMI study evaluates the economic implications of the Path to Legal Status, high-skilled (H-1B) visa expansion, and changes in lesser-skilled visa programs (H-2A, H-2B, and W-1 Visas).
The study’s writers use a REMI PI+ model of all fifty states and the District of Columbia to show the macroeconomic effects of the policy changes over the period of 2014 to 2045. PI+ is a multiregional macroeconomic model which has been used in thousands of national and regional economic studies, including studies of other elements of immigration reforms in the United States.
The study shows the macroeconomic effects of each policy on the national and state level. Key summary macroeconomic indicators include employment, gross domestic (state) product, and personal income. The study also provides employment effects by industry for the United States, and a complete set of state-level fact sheets which present results for each policy and all fifty states and the District of Columbia.
The study’s major findings:
- It estimates that the Pathway to Legal Status policy will increase total U.S. employment by 123,000 in 2014, increasing to
