Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Immigration Symposium Sponsored by Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois and University Park SIUE, Inc.

The Economic Impact of Immigration on St. Louis Jack Strauss Simon Chair of Economics Director of the Simon Center for Regional Forecasting Saint Louis University June 2012 Funded by the William T. Kemper Foundation

“This report statistically demonstrates that the St. Louis economy and our demographic profile are intimately related. It shows that there is one clear and specific way to simultaneously redress the region’s population stagnation, output slump, tepid employment growth, housing weakness and deficit in entrepreneurship—Immigration.” Jack Strauss, The Economic Impact of Immigration on St. Louis

Scarcity of Immigrants largely explains our poor economic growth St. Louis MSA: 126,500 immigrants or 4.5% of population Top 20 MSAs: Average four to five times the number of immigrants 1970: 10 th largest MSA 2010: 18 th in population 20 th in economic output 1970: 26 th in nation for number of immigrants 2010: 42 nd in nation for number of immigrants 2000 to 2010: Other MSAs in top 20 averaged 40% faster economic growth 2001 to 2011: Lost 45,000 jobs or 3.3% of workforce

If St. Louis had experienced inflows of immigrants similar to other large MSAs: Income growth would have been 4-7% greater The region’s income would be 7-11% larger Housing prices would be 20 to 26% higher in St. Louis Matching other large MSAs inflows would Increase job growth 4-5%

The foreign born community in the St. Louis region is: Predominantly White Collar Earning 25% more than the average American born Three times more likely to be high-skilled (one of the highest ratios in the country) 44% more likely to have at least a college education 130% more likely to have an advanced degree 60% more likely to be entrepreneurs

Mosaic Project Steering Committee Denney Colman—St. Louis Economic Partnership Rodney Crim—St. Louis Economic Partnership Joe Reagan—St. Louis Regional Chamber Debbie Barron—Danforth Plant Science Center Jim Buford—Civic leader Anna Crosslin—International Institute of St. Louis Kathy Osborn—Regional Business Council Melissa Harper—Monsanto Michael Holmes—Rx Outreach Peter Tao—TAO—Lee Bob Fox—Casa de Salud Joel Glassman—University Of Missouri—St. Louis Anthony Gonzales—Angel--Gonzales Companies, LLC Ellen Harshman—Saint Louis University Edward S. Macias—Washington University James Pennekamp—Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Julian Schuster—Webster University Doug Rau—Sigma—Aldrich Corporation Kathleen Ratcliffe--St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission Vince Schoemehl—Grand Center, Inc. John Nations—MSA