INCLUSIVE ECONOMY: UNLOCKING IMMIGRANT TALENTS TO BOLSTER LOCAL ECONOMY

Ongoing demographic shifts in the United States, together with dynamic labor market trends, necessitate strategic investments and fully embracing international immigration to foster the advancement and prosperity of American cities and local economies.

United States Demographic Landscape Transformation and the Forces Behind the Change: The demographic trajectory of the United States is clear and well-documented by Census Bureau data and research analysis. Regardless of the exact year, the trend is undeniable. The transformation of America’s demographic landscape results from powerful, intersecting forces at work for over half a century. The 1965 US legislation fundamentally altered international immigration flows among racial and ethnic groups to the country. This has propelled the nation toward a majority-minority future. In addition to this dramatic population shift driven by international migration, the US population for 2025 shows a continued trend of aging and low birth rates.

The 1965 Immigration and Nationalization Act: The Immigration Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, helped shape modern American demographics. The law, passed during the American Civil Rights Movement, eliminated the racial discriminatory national-origins quota immigration policy since the 1920s which heavily favored immigrants from Western and Northern Europe. The 1965 US immigration framework prioritized family reunification, and occupational skills. Unbeknown at the time to proponents of the 1965 law, including President Johnson and Senator Ted Kennedy, that the new immigration law allowing a flood of new immigrants had the potential to alter the country’s demographics. Conservatives supported the law believing that it would favor existing European immigrant families in the US. But as the demand for European immigrants declined, immigrants from Asia, Latin American, and Africa seized the opportunity of the family preference system to sponsor and bring their relatives to the US. This action triggered significant “chain migration” that has dramatically diversified the United States population.

This cohort of international immigrants, particularly those originating from Latin America and Africa, exhibits relatively youthful age profiles concentrated in prime childbearing years and has historically demonstrated higher fertility rates. This produces largely more births than deaths annually. According to the United Nations Under-Secretary and Special Adviser on Africa to the UN Secretary General, Christina Duarte, “By 2050, four out of five young people globally will be African, so demographics speak for themselves” (UN News/Ben Malor, 15 December 2025).

Economic Implications: Net international migration remains a powerful engine of population growth, and its importance is increasing. Today, the United States is home to the largest population of immigrants in the world. As the U.S. population ages and natural increase (births minus deaths) slows, immigration becomes more critical for the economic survival of American cities. The number of people entering the United States has increased sharply in recent years. Most of the increase comes from a surge in people whom the U.S Congressional Budget Office categorizes as other foreign nationals. Although immigrants assimilate more quickly in the US than in Europe, American immigration policy remains highly contentious, even though its economic effects are well-established. The bulk of academic research and economic analysis find little support for the view that wages of Americans are affected by the inflow of foreign labor, and that economic effects of immigration are mostly positive for American natives and the overall US economy.

A popular view is that immigrants are taking jobs from American citizens and lowering wages for natives. Contrary to the belief that foreign labor lowers native wages, studies show immigration has increased average wages for native-born workers in recent decades. Most empirical studies indicate long-term benefits for natives’ employment and wages from international immigration. The presence of immigrants often creates opportunities for less-skilled native workers to become more specialized in their work, thereby increasing their productivity and earning capacity. Immigrants also spend their wages on homes, food, TVs and other goods and services and expand domestic economic demand. This increased demand, in turn, generates more jobs to build those homes, make and sell food, and transport TVs.

Immigration generally also improves the government’s fiscal situation, as many immigrants pay more in taxes over a lifetime than they consume in government services. Immigration generally also improves the government’s fiscal situation, as many immigrants pay more in taxes over a lifetime than they consume in government services. The July 2024 report of the US Congressional Budget Office reconfirms the benefit of immigration. The report indicates that the increase in immigration boosts federal revenues as well as mandatory spending and interest on the debt in CBO’s baseline projections, lowering deficits, on net, by $0.9trillion over the 2024-2034 period (see Table 1) 2 Effects of Immigration of the Immigration Surge on the Federal Budget and the Economy.

Immigration gives the United States an economic edge in the world with immigrants’ creative, innovative ideas, and enterprising spirit. Immigrants are at the forefront of innovation and ingenuity in the United States, accounting for a disproportionately high share of patent filings, science and technology graduates, and senior positions at top venture capital-funded firms. Their groundbreaking contributions and patent developments have strengthened the United States' reputation as a leader in innovation and invention. (UNTOLD HISTORY: Africans in the American Diaspora,2024, Bernadine Ahonkhai, ch.12).

Social Implications and Persistent Anti-Immigrant Sentiment:

International immigration has been central to the United States since the colonial era when waves of Europeans fleeing religious persecution and seeking economic opportunity settling in the then “New World”. By 2020, immigrants from the world nations and their US -born children accounted for over a quarter of the American population, highlighting the scale of demographic transformation. Immigration profoundly altered the racial and ethnic composition of the country and altered it from a predominantly white population in the 1960s to a more culturally diverse society today. It has enriched American culture and contributed to the remarkable ethnic diversity in the country today through contributions in art, music, literature, cuisine, language and more. The socio-cultural impact of immigration in the United States has created a mosaic of traditions that have made America a global diverse multicultural hub that thrives on the exchange of ideas, customs, and traditions.

The demographic transformation of the United States is a powerful economic and socio-cultural force that continues to shape the country’s workforce. While this change offers some unique economic opportunities through a growing labor force in an aging world, there are inherent social challenges as well. Realizing the economic potential inherent in international migration requires confronting America’s deep-seated racial and ethnic economic issues. Despite the enormous contributions of immigrants, immigration has historically been accompanied by social tensions, racial discrimination and nativist sentiment.

Political Implications and Policies for Future Cities:

Americas immigration story is not only historyit is a political choice, revisited every election cycle. Too often, immigrants are treated less as neighbors than as props: blamed when wages stagnate, invoked when poll numbers dip, and traded as bargaining chips in legislative battles. The result is a posture that is heavy on enforcement, light on solutions, and blind to a basic reality: cities depend on immigrant labor and immigrant ingenuity. Immigrants keep local economies runningdriving innovation in high-tech and STEM, caring for patients, supporting and educating children, building housing and infrastructure, and sustaining agriculture and essential servicesyet institutions still block too many refugees and other newcomers from good jobs and fair access to entrepreneurship.

This gap is not accidental; it reflects incentives that reward outrage over competence and symbolism over results. If we want resilient cities and shared prosperity, inclusion cannot be a feel-good slogan; it must be policy: faster credential recognition, expanded language and workforce training, funded pathways into in-demand careers, real capital and technical support for immigrant entrepreneurs, and accountability for discriminatory hiring and lending. City leaders should not wait for Washington to stop performing and start governing, but they also should not have to patch the system alone; state and federal partners must align funding, data, and legal pathways with local workforce needs. The choice is stark: build an immigration system that matches our economic needs and democratic values, or keep paying for dysfunction through labor shortages, slower economic growth, and wasted human potential.

~~Dr. Bernadine Ahonkhai is a community activist and advocate

Author: UNTOLD HISTORY, Africans in the American Diaspora

Award-winning Education & DEIJ Consultant

"If you don't tell your own story, someone else will."

 ~Michelle Obama, Former US First La