Report: Immigrants Account for over 25% of New Entrepreneurs in U.S.

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Report: Immigrants Account for over 25% of New Entrepreneurs in U.S.

June 3, 2015

A new study released by the Kaufmann Foundation reports that immigrants make up 28.5% of all entrepreneurs in the U.S. As Matthew Yglesias at Vox.com writes:

Immigrants are very disproportionately involved in high-flying Silicon Valley startups, but the typical immigrant entrepreneur is engaged in something more humble — more likely a taqueria or a dry cleaning shop than the next Google. For hard-working, ambitious immigrants who may lack the language skills or formal educational credentials to secure good jobs in traditional workplace settings, starting a small business can be the best path to get ahead.

This is yet another indication of how beneficial America’s attractiveness to immigrants is to the U.S. economy. But as Yglesias points out, we could be doing better still:

But policymakers looking to assist small businesses — and even companies looking to market services to them — rarely focus on the unique needs and circumstances of an immigrant community. But with nearly a third of small firms owned by the foreign-born, it’s time for that to change.

TAGS: Economic Benefits of Immigration