Immigration and the U.S. Economy

EconoFact Chats

In 2019, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office projected that net immigration in 2023 would total 1 million. More recent estimates from the agency put net immigration for 2023 at 3.3 million. How has increased immigration affected the post-COVID economic recovery in the U.S.? More broadly, what role does immigration play in the American economy? What parts of the economy are particularly dependent on non-native born workers? And with low birth rates, how important is immigration for continued economic growth, and for the solvency of Social Security and Medicare? Tara Watson joins EconoFact Chats to discuss these issues. Tara is a Professor of Economics at Williams College. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Treasury from 2015 to 2016, and is currently a Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institution.