Editorial

Most immigrant workers make good neighbors

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

It will be hard for some people to accept, but some of Nebraska's best citizens were not born here.

Not only do foreign-born workers make a significant contribution to the state's economy, they require less public assistance than the average native-born Nebraskan.

A new study released by the University of Nebraska at Omaha found that 2006 immigrant spending resulted in an estimated $1.6 billion in total output for Nebraska's economy, creating between 11,874 and 12,121 jobs for the state.

Not surprisingly, most of the immigrant population is employed in meat processing, providing 80.4 percent of the labor force preparing meat, poultry and fish for the market. However, immigrants also accounted for 9.65 percent of total employment in construction and 7.3 percent in the services sector.

The state's immigrant population contributed about $154 million in property, income, sales and gasoline tax revenue in 2006, about $1,554 per capita or about $500 less than the average native-born resident.

And, while the immigrant population in Nebraska used about $144.78 million in food stamps, public assistance, health and educational expenditures in 2006, or about $1,455 each in 2006, that's about $500 less than the average native Nebraskan.

What if immigrant workers were suddenly sent home?

According to the UNO study, total state production would fall by $13.5 billion, or about 8.75 percent of our total state production. If just the Central and South American immigrants were gone, the state would lose an estimated $11.4 billion in production, or nearly 8 percent of the total.

That would mean $5.4 billion less production in the state's main, densely populated areas and $3.9 billion and $2.8 billion in the state's Eastern and Western regions, respectively.

The UNO study didn't address the topic directly, but in Western Nebraska, particularly, we have to wonder how much of a positive effect the immigrant population has on economic factors related to a declining population.

As the immigrants establish themselves financially, for example, how many are buying newer cars, purchasing houses and making other large purchases that are key to economic growth?

Clashing cultures always attract news coverage, like the recent situation involving Muslim workers at meat packing plants. But judging by the numbers, at least, on the whole, immigrant workers make good Nebraska neighbors.

Comments
View 1 comment
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
  • Another 'opinion' article by the 'Invisible Person.'

    I am not very sure what the point of the offering is, but the numbers indicate that if we doubled our immigrant population, Nebraska could be debt free within a couple of years, could cut property tax's by 99%, eliminate sales tax, and pay every resident a couple of thousand dollars per year, just for living next door to a 'legal' immigrant (all my guesstimation, based on the really big numbers above).

    I just wonder how much the Nebraska taxpayers paid for this fantastic information? Are Nebraskans so biased that we have to be enlightened about how lucky we are to have immigrants here? Very few families in Nebraska can count back more than three, or four, generations before finding that we all are immigrants (except the indians, of course). Hmmm, perhaps that is the point. God knows.

    To one and all, loose no sleep pondering the article. Shalom in Messiah. Arley Steinhour

    -- Posted by Navyblue on Wed, Oct 15, 2008, at 7:01 PM
Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: