Construction Citizen
Published on Construction Citizen (https://constructioncitizen.com)

Home > RM Podcast: CHF Report Shows Immigration Will Fuel Houston's Economic Growth

RM Podcast: CHF Report Shows Immigration Will Fuel Houston's Economic Growth [1]

Construction Citizen's picture [2]
by Construction Citizen [2] | February 18, 2021
Share this post:
  • [3]
  • [4]
  • [5]
  • [6]
  • [3]
  • [6]
  • [5]
  • [4]
Government Actions [7]
Immigration Reform [8]
Rational Middle [9]

The following article was authored by Charles Frantes and originally published on TexasGOPVote [10].

During a recent Rational Middle Podcast [11], Steven Scarborough, Strategic Initiatives Manager at the Center for Houston’s Future (CHF), discussed CFH’s updated research [12] on how immigration rates will affect the Greater Houston Area’s future economic growth.  

Scarborough said that overall, the CHF’s report [13] found that immigration rates and economic growth are directly correlated and that immigration will be necessary to fuel Houston’s economic growth in the coming decades.

“Projecting GDP for 2040, a restricted immigration scenario with 30 percent less immigration causes a $47 billion economic loss, and an increased immigration scenario with 30 percent more immigration produces a $62 billion economic gain from the status quo,” Scarborough said.

He also explained that the report found recent drastic declines [14] in immigration following COVID-19 have already had a significant negative impact on their models for Houston’s future economic growth.

“Recent declines in immigration rates depressed the projected economic benefits for the region from immigration: While our 2019 report indicated a $67 billion GDP benefit under the increased immigration scenario, this figure dropped by 7 percent to $62 billion when the Center ran the model in 2021,” said Scarborough.

The report also explained that a key reason immigrants fuel economic growth in Houston is that they are a source of population growth to fill workforce demands where native-born workers in the region continue to experience a decrease in population growth rates.

“Immigrants already make up nearly one-third of the region’s workforce. With employment growth among native citizens below 2 percent, Houston will need foreign immigration to continue expanding economically… Between 2019 and 2040, two in every five jobs added within the region will be filled by foreign-born workers,” said Scarborough.

Based on the report's updated immigration numbers, it also predicts that the immigrant share of Houston’s workforce will grow from 31% in 2019, to 36% in 2040.

Scarborough also highlighted some of the numbers from the CHF report that detail the large and growing share that immigrants make up of sector-specific workforces in the Houston Area. For example, in 2019 the immigrant share of labor in Houston’s energy sector was 29%, but it is expected to grow to 45% by 2040.


Share this post
  • [6]
  • [5]
  • [4]
  • [3]
Construction Citizen's Bio >> [2]

Site and all content © 2017 Construction Citizen


Source URL:https://constructioncitizen.com/blog/rm-podcast-chf-report-shows-immigration-will-fuel-houstons-economic-growth/2102181

Links
[1] https://constructioncitizen.com/blog/rm-podcast-chf-report-shows-immigration-will-fuel-houstons-economic-growth/2102181 [2] https://constructioncitizen.com/users/construction-citizen [3] https://constructioncitizen.com/print/3229 [4] https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fconstructioncitizen.com%2Fnode%2F3229 [5] https://twitter.com/home?status=https%3A%2F%2Fconstructioncitizen.com%2Fnode%2F3229 [6] https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fconstructioncitizen.com%2Fnode%2F3229 [7] https://constructioncitizen.com/categories/reshaping-industry/government-actions [8] https://constructioncitizen.com/tags/immigration-reform [9] https://constructioncitizen.com/tags/rational-middle-0 [10] https://www.texasgopvote.com/economy/rm-podcast-chf-report-shows-immigration-will-fuel-houstons-economic-growth-0013280 [11] https://rationalmiddle.com/podcast/episode-67-how-immigration-will-impact-houstons-economy-with-steven-scarborough/ [12] https://www.texasgopvote.com/economy/new-research-finds-continued-immigration-will-fuel-houston-region-s-future-0013250 [13] https://www.centerforhoustonsfuture.org/2021-immigration-white-paper [14] https://www.texasgopvote.com/immigration/legal-immigration-us-reduced-92-second-half-2020-sharpest-drop-history-0013012