Immigration by Mark Stone

November 2024. We've heard lots of talk this year about the immigration "problem". Here's the actual problem:

If you are a country like Japan, South Korea, or China, you have declining birth rates, which creates a severe economic challenge. Specifically, as aging workers exit the workforce, not enough young workers are entering the workforce to support the system as a whole. The problem is that these countries do not have enough immigrants to counterbalance low birth rates.

Western Europe has immigration rates that exceed the declining birth rates, resulting in a gradual increase in population. However, no one is better at solving the immigration problem than the United States. In 2022, roughly 3 million people immigrated to the U.S.(legals and unauthorized combined).

A common anxiety is to see immigrants as competition for existing jobs. This only matters if you assume that employment is a zero sum game. Yet U.S. growth in GDP, and leadership in GDP per capita, tell us the economy is not a zero sum game. Innovation drives new growth by creating new products and services, resulting in jobs that otherwise wouldn't exist.

We in the tech sector should know this better than anyone. My personal experience bears this out:

  • Non-U.S. countries of birth for C-level executives I have worked for: India, Pakistan, Iran, England, Canada, Australia.
  • Other Non-U.S. countries of birth for Director and above leaders I have worked with: China, Nepal, Thailand, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, France, Mexico, Brazil, Belize, South Africa, Lebanon.
  • Other Non-U.S. countries of birth my peers have been from: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Russia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Argentina, Israel, Nigeria, Egypt, New Zealand, Jordan.

Without the hard work and diversity of viewpoints immigrants bring to this country, the innovation I've witnessed in tech would not be possible. My career would not have been possible. I will always be a grateful Statue of Liberty American.

"From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome"
-"The New Colossus", by Emma Lazarus

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