New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) Migration’s contribution goes beyond labour supply, and it drives innovation, becoming an essential driver of growth, demographic resilience and cultural cohesion, according to a report in One World Outlook, a new-age digital platform.

Written by Giuseppe Savino, a specialist in migration policies, the report stresses that as anti-immigration rhetoric surges across Europe and the United States, “it is vital that we look beyond fearmongering and examine what is really at stake”.

Immigrants in the US are 80 per cent more likely to start a business than native-born citizens. More than 40 per cent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by migrants or their descendants – including tech giants like Google, Tesla, and Apple, the author wrote.

Moreover, a significant proportion of patents filed in the US include at least one foreign inventor, while the country’s science and engineering programmes rely heavily on international students.

“In 2022, global remittances reached $831 billion – a 650 per cent increase since 2000. These funds, sent directly by migrants to their families, often exceed official development assistance and, in some cases, foreign direct investment,” according to the article.

In Europe, two-thirds of the new jobs created in the EU between 2019 and 2023 were filled by non-EU migrants, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

These workers are not “stealing jobs”; they are filling structural vacancies that neither automation nor the internal market can meet, said the article.

According to a 2016 McKinsey Global Institute study, migrants, while just 3.3 per cent of the global population, generated 9.4 per cent of global GDP – around $6.7 trillion.

“In the United States alone, their contribution to GDP stood at $2 trillion,” the author wrote.

According to an IMF report in 2024, migration is projected to raise the region’s potential GDP by 0.5 per cent by 2030.

“This is not a trivial figure; it represents half of all expected growth. Without migration, Europe’s already modest economic prospects would be far grimmer,” the article argued.

In the US, immigrants are even more critical to economic dynamism.

“In 2023, more than 31 million immigrants – 19 per cent of the workforce – were active in the labour market. Their participation rate, at 67 per cent, exceeded that of native-born workers, who stood at 62 per cent. Migrants, in other words, work more, pay more taxes, and fuel domestic consumption,” said the author.

Notably, immigrants do not generally displace native workers. They often take on physically demanding jobs or those that locals are unwilling or unable to fill.

“In ageing societies like Germany, Italy, and Japan, this complementarity is not a luxury – it is a necessity. Without migrant labour, hospitals would be understaffed, supply chains would stall, and entire industries – from agriculture to eldercare – would collapse,” according to the article.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned that without greater inclusion of immigrants, women, and older workers, GDP per capita growth in its member states could fall from 1 per cent annually (2000-2020) to just 0.6 per cent by 2060.

Inclusive migration policies, by contrast, could add at least 0.1 percentage point to annual growth, it added.

–IANS

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