Immigrants Make Up 10 Percent of Minnesota’s Workforce, Report Says

(KNSI) – A new report from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Foundation details how Minnesota’s immigrant community impacts the state economy.

The Economic Contributions of Immigrants in Minnesota report published this month found that 8.5 percent of Minnesota residents are foreign-born, a number that has more than doubled since 1990. The top four countries of origin are Mexico, Somalia, India and Laos.

While the state’s domestic net migration from 2009 to 2019 is negative — meaning more U.S.-born residents moved out of state versus those who moved to the state — Minnesota’s international net migration is positive.

Due in part because Minnesota’s immigrant community is, on average, younger than Minnesota’s native-born population, immigrants represent 10 percent of the state’s workforce.

“81 percent of the foreign-born population is of working age (18-64) while only 60 percent of the native-born population belongs to this age group,” the report reads.

“Their labor force participation rate is higher than native-born Minnesotans,” says Laura Bordelon, senior vice president for advocacy for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. “So they’re pretty critical. It’s hard to imagine a really successful and growing economy in Minnesota without them.”

Industries with some of the highest shares of immigrant workers include agriculture, health care and manufacturing.

The Twin Cities metro has the highest percentage of foreign-born residents at 11.95 percent. Central Minnesota’s immigrant population is 3.8 percent.

“From over a 10-year period … [the region has] had 50 percent growth in your foreign-born population,” Bordelon said. “The state average for growth is about 28 percent.”

Though immigrants in Minnesota have a higher workforce participation rate, there are areas for improvement. In general, 9 percent of Central Minnesota residents are in poverty, but immigrants face a 26.5 percent poverty rate in the area. The report shows that the longer immigrants have lived in the U.S., the lower their poverty rates are. Homeownership is also higher among immigrants who moved to the U.S. before 2000 (64.3 percent) than those who entered after 2000 (47.1 percent).

“We know that, generationally, over time, a lot of immigrants do really well,” Bordelon said. “Like any group of people, they tend to do better over time.”

___