In a speech supporting amnesty for illegal aliens, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stated, “Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans. Immigrants are more fertile . . . and they have more intact families. Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.” – The Washington Post 6/14/13
Fact Check: Bush is wrong, totally on some points and to a large extent on others. Immigrants, despite the oft-repeated claim, are not more likely than U.S. natives to start and own businesses. In fact, they are slightly less likely to do so. In 2011, the percentage of self-employed U.S. natives over the age of 25 was 11.7 percent, compared with 11.5 percent for immigrants. See: Dynamic Scoring of Immigration?
The impression that immigrants are more entrepreneurial than natives derives from the fact that certain nationalities of them are, and they tend to stand out in public perception. But again, the average of immigrants of all groups does not exceed the native average.
The statement about immigrants being “more fertile” is part of Bush’s argument later in the Post article that we need a younger workforce to have a strong economy. The birthrate of immigrants is somewhat higher, a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.98 children per woman in 2011, compared with 1.88 for natives. This small difference, however, has little impact on the age level of the population in general. See: Dynamic Scoring of Immigration?
As for the foreign born having more intact families, research indicates that this is not true of Hispanic immigrants, the largest group of the foreign-born and one often hailed for its “family values.” The illegitimacy rate of foreign-born Hispanics is just as high as that of natives, at 40 percent. See: Seeing Today’s Immigrants Straight by Heather Mac Donald, City …
The statement that “Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity” is a gross overstatement. Actually, it depends on the immigrants. Those with skills and education can make a contribution, but immigrants (legal and illegal) on average have less training and education than natives. A good illustration is California, the state with the most immigrants numerically and percentage wise. Silicon Valley seems to have prospered from skilled immigrants, but the state as a whole has declined economically since mass immigration began.
Forty years ago, California had a solidly middle-class economy. Today it has significantly moved toward a Third World economic arrangement, with a relatively wealthy elite at the top and masses of masses of low-income people below.