New Americans in the Magnolia State

The Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in Mississippi.

Immigrants and their children are growing shares of Mississippi’s population.

• The foreign-born share of Mississippi’s population rose from 0.8% in 1990 [1], to 1.4% in 2000 [1], to 2.1% in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Mississippi was home to 60,555 immigrants in 2008 [2].

• 30.4% of immigrants (or 18,419 people) in Mississippi were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [2]—meaning that they are eligible to vote.

2.8% of Mississippians are Latino or Asian.

• The Latino share of Mississippi’s population grew from 0.6% in 1990 [3], to 1.4% in 2000 [3], to 2.0% (or 58,772 people) in 2008 [2].  The Asian share of the population grew from 0.5% in 1990 [4] to 0.8% (or 23,509 people) in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• In Mississippi, more than four-in-five (or 85% of) children in immigrant families were U.S. citizens in 2007 [5], according to the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the University of Albany.

Latino and Asian entrepreneurs and consumers add billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to Mississippi’s economy.

• The 2009 purchasing power of Latinos in Mississippi totaled $1.6 billion—an increase of 902.8% since 1990.  Asian buying power totaled $862.1 million—an increase of 564.4% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth [6] at the University of Georgia.

• Mississippi’s 1,326 Latino-owned [7] businesses had sales and receipts of $213 million and employed 2,080 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available.  The state’s 2,921 Asian-owned [8] businesses had sales and receipts of $1.2 billion and employed 9,232 people in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.

Immigrants contribute to Mississippi’s economy as workers.

• Immigrants comprised 2.8% of the state’s workforce in 2008 [2] (or 38,786 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Unauthorized immigrants contribute to Mississippi’s economy as workers and taxpayers.

• Unauthorized immigrants comprised roughly 1.8% of the state’s workforce (or 25,000 workers) in 2008 [9], according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.

• Unauthorized immigrants in Mississippi contributed $44.2 million in taxes in 2005 [10], according to a 2006 study by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Mississippi, the state would lose $583 million in economic activity, $259 million in gross state product, and approximately 4,680 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group [11].

Immigrants contribute to Mississippi’s economy as students.

• Mississippi’s 2,589 foreign students contributed $44.3 million to the state’s economy in tuition, fees, and living expenses for the 2008-2009 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators [12].

Naturalized citizens excel educationally.

• In Mississippi, 28.8% of foreign-born persons who were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [13] had a bachelor’s or higher degree, compared to 24.1% of noncitizens.  At the same time, 23.3% of naturalized citizens lacked a high-school diploma, compared to 44.0% of noncitizens.

• The number of immigrants in Mississippi with a college degree increased by 42.5% between 2000 and 2008, according to data [13] from the Migration Policy Institute.

• In Mississippi, 74.1% of all children between the ages of 5 and 17 in families that spoke a language other than English at home also spoke English “very well” as of 2008 [13].

UPDATED: JULY 2010

Published On: Fri, May 28, 2010 | Download File [14]