There is no doubt that immigration is on top of many agendas around the country, including Washington DC. When I was visiting DC in November 2005 with Lead21, almost every Congressman and Senator we met with made a remark about immigration - but mostly limited to the public concerns about cross-border issues with Mexico. Disappointed, I left our capital wondering why no detailed reports have been published to quantify the actual [and positive] impact of immigration on US economy.
Fast forward 12 months, Venture Beat ran an awesome piece today on the impact of immigration from the perspective of venture capital. It's eye opening to say the least: the study by NVCA found that:
- Venture backed companies started by immigrants contributed $500 Billion in market capitalization to the US economy
- A quarter of of the venture-backed companies that were started in the last 15 years and have gone public were started by immigrants
- Immigrant-founded companies employ about 220 thousand people in the US
This is probably just the tip of the iceberg, as the positive impact of immigration, called "America's Secret Weapon" by Deepak Chopra, an immigrant himself, is likely to exceed all of the above numbers because of the multiplier effects, especially since most high-tech jobs are white collar, high income and result in additional wealth creation as the beneficiaries of those public companies boost the economy by investing in return in new start-ups and spending locally.
When I was frequently asked about Google's secrets of success by visiting delegations from Europe while at Google, my favorite answer was immigration. Most people from Europe didn't realize that some of America's most successful companies like Google, Intel, and Yahoo, not only were started by immigrant entrepreneurs but also employed a large number of immigrants. We had people from tens of countries, as early as when we had merely 100 employees at Google.
I hope the NVCA study mentioned by Mark Heesen becomes another wake-up call for our politicians in DC: immigration is one of the biggest contributors to the success and resilience of the US economy. As such it should not be viewed as a threat but as a competitive advantage that needs to fostered and reinforced, not shot down.
