[1]The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in the Natural State (Updated January 2012)
Download the Fact Sheet [3] (2010 Census Data)
Download the Previous Fact Sheet [4] (2008 Census Data)
Immigrants and their children are growing shares of Arkansas’s population.
- The foreign-born share of Arkansas’s population rose from 1.1% in 1990 [5], to 2.8% in 2000 [5], to 4.5% in 2010 [6], according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Arkansas was home to 131,667 immigrants in 2010 [6], which is greater than the population of Springfield, Illinois [6].
- 27.7% of immigrants (or 36,435 people) in Arkansas were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2010 [6]—meaning that they are eligible to vote.
- Arkansas had the fastest-growing Latino population of any state in the nation between 2000 and 2005, and the fourth-fastest-growing immigrant population, according to a study [7] by the Urban Institute.
More than 7% of Arkansans are Latino or Asian.
- The Latino share of Arkansas’s population grew from 0.8% in 1990 [8], to 3.2% in 2000 [8], to 6.3% (or 184,061 people) in 2010 [6]. The Asian share of the population grew from 0.5% in 1990 [9], to 0.8% in 2000 [9], to 1.1% (or 32,138 people) in 2010 [6], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- In Arkansas, 88.2% of children with immigrant parents were U.S. citizens in 2009 [10], according to data from the Urban Institute.
- In 2009 [10], 91.5% of children in Asian families in Arkansas were U.S. citizens, as were 89.5% of children in Latino families.
Immigrant, Latino, and Asian entrepreneurs, consumers, and taxpayers add billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to Arkansas’s economy.
- Spending by immigrants generated $2.9 billion in Arkansas business revenues in 2004, according to a study [11] by the Urban Institute.
- Immigrants (and their U.S.-born children) paid $19 million more in taxes than they consumed in education, health services, and corrections, according to the same [11] study.
- Households headed by unauthorized immigrants in Arkansas paid $73.3 million in state and local taxes in 2010, according to data [12] from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, which includes:
- $11.0 million in state income taxes.
- $3.0 million in property taxes.
- $59.4 million in sales taxes.
- The 2010 purchasing power of Arkansas’s Latinos totaled $3.3 billion—an increase of 1,908.2% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $1.1 billion—an increase of 656.1% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth [13] at the University of Arkansas.
- Arkansas’s 5,436 Latino-owned businesses [14] had sales and receipts of $821 million and employed 4,269 people in 2007, the last year for which data is available. The state’s 3,322 Asian-owned businesses [14] had sales and receipts of $855.7 million and employed 7,285 people in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.
Immigrants are integral to Arkansas’s economy as workers.
- Immigrants comprised 6.1% of the state’s workforce in 2010 [6] (or 84,955 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Without immigrant workers, the state’s manufacturing industry output would be lowered by about $1.4 billion—or about 8 percent of the industry’s $16.2 billion total contribution to the gross state product in 2004, according to a study [15] by the Urban Institute.
- Unauthorized immigrants comprised 3.0% of the state’s workforce (or 40,000 workers) in 2010 [16], according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.
- If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Arkansas, the state would lose $798 million in economic activity, $354 million in gross state product, and approximately 6,660 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group [17].
Immigrants contribute to Arkansas’s economy as students.
- Arkansas’s 3,549 foreign students contributed $75.1 million to the state’s economy in tuition, fees, and living expenses for the 2009-2010 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators [18].
Naturalized citizens excel educationally.
- In Arkansas, 23.1% of foreign-born persons who were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2009 [19] had a bachelor’s or higher degree, compared to 11.9% of noncitizens. At the same time, only 28.9% of naturalized citizens lacked a high-school diploma, compared to 58.7% of noncitizens.
- The number of immigrants in Arkansas with a college degree increased by 47.2% between 2000 and 2009, according to data [19] from the Migration Policy Institute.
- In Arkansas, 79.6% of children with immigrant parents were considered “English proficient” as of 2009 [10].
- The English proficiency rate among Asian children in Arkansas was 87.4%, while for Latino children it was 80.5%, as of 2009 [10].
Published On: Wed, Jan 11, 2012 | Download File [20]