The number of foreign-born immigrants in Boston grew by more than a fourth between 2000-2014, according to a Boston Redevelopment Authority report released this month. As of 2014, approximately 27 percent of city residents were foreign-born.
Foreign-born immigrants make up an increasing share of Boston’s economy and political fabric, advocates say.
“It’s really shifting the dynamics in a remarkable way in terms of workforce and political force,” said Eva Millona, executive director of Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.
Economic drivers
Immigrants are major players in the workforce, and government agencies may want to pay attention to making them even more so.
Millona said that immigrants comprise more than 18 percent of the state’s workforce and are twice as likely to start a business as a native-born resident. In 2013, nearly 19 percent of business owners in the Boston area were foreign-born, according to the American Immigration Council.
They have boosted both employment and revenue, creating 15,000 Boston jobs in 2014 and generating $116 million in state and local taxes, the BRA reports.
But not all new immigrants are ready to dive in and become independent actors in the workforce, and their employment is not always high-paying.
In 2014, the poverty rate was 6 percent higher for Boston’s foreign-born residents than for native-born residents and they were more likely to work in service professions, according to the BRA.
Eva Millona, executive director of Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.
It takes effort on the part of both new immigrants and the government to integrate so they become full participants in society, Millona said. She noted that immigrants need to proactively learn the work and language skills to enter the economy, as well take steps such as enrolling in health care that will help them be self-sufficient. In turn, the government needs to offer them resources to help them succeed.
While the city and state have worked to provide resources to immigrants, much remains to be done, Millona said. One critical area: English language education for adults.
The waitlist for English for Speakers of Other Languages services in Massachusetts numbers 14,458, according to figures currently available from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Wait times may range from six months to three years, according to a 2013 report issued by the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education.
Political presence
Nearly half of Boston’s immigrants are naturalized citizens — and thus are eligible to vote. By 2012, 15.5 percent of registered Massachusetts voters were either naturalized citizens or native-born children born to immigrants on or after 1965, according to the American Immigration Council.
“The percentage of people who are not only registered but vote on the day of the election, it’s much higher for the naturalized foreign-born [in Massachusetts],” Millona said.
Not all registered voters may turn out for elections, but the potential political power is there and set to grow if trends in immigration and naturalization levels continue. In Massachusetts, the percent of naturalized immigrants rose from 43.7 percent in 2000 to 52.5 in 2013, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Major common political causes are immigration reform — including a push for provisions to make it easier to bring over family members and reunite families — and for resources to ease naturalization, Millona said.
Boston makeup
The foreign-born population has not settled equally in Boston. East Boston by far has experienced the highest effects, with more than 50 percent of its population born outside the U.S. Neighborhood populations in Boston are, on average, roughly 20 percent foreign-born. Notable exceptions are the North End and Beacon Hill, with far smaller population percentages: only one tenth in each.
Most immigrants are from the Dominican Republic, with China coming in second, followed by Haiti.
