New Americans in Longview, Texas
Date: May 12, 2020
New research from New American Economy shows that immigrants contributed $920 million to the GDP of the Longview metropolitan area in 2017. The report, New Americans in Longview, was prepared in partnership with the Longview Chamber of Commerce.
In addition to their financial contributions, which included paying $46.9 million in federal taxes and $29.0 million in state and local taxes, the report highlights how immigrants fill crucial workforce gaps. Immigrants made up 7.8 percent of the area’s population but are 48.4 percent more likely to be of working-age population than their U.S.-born counterparts. Additionally, immigrants had an outsize impact on key industries vital to the economic stability of Longview. Immigrants accounted for 29.8 percent of construction workers, 29.2 percent of agricultural workers, and 17.3 percent of manufacturing workers.
Longview immigrants also helped strengthen the local job market by helping to preserve or create 775 local manufacturing jobs that would have otherwise vanished or moved elsewhere by 2017.
Key findings include:
- Immigrants make significant economic contributions to the economy. Alongside the $46.9 million immigrants paid in federal taxes and $29.0 million in state and local taxes, immigrants contributed $920.7 million to the local area GDP and earned $351.4 million in income.
- Immigrants help fill workforce gaps. In 2017, 88.6 percent of immigrants in the Longview metro area were of working age, in contrast to 59.7 percent of the U.S.-born population, helping to fill employment gaps across industries. They represented 65 percent of construction workers, 41.3 percent of manufacturing workers, and 40.5 percent of hospitality workers.
- Immigrants are creating jobs in Longview. In 2017, immigrants in the Longview metro area represented 11.8 percent of all business owners in the county, with a total business income of $25.7 million.
The report is based on NAE’s analysis of microdata from the 2017 American Community Survey. Click here to read the full report, New Americans in Longview.
