By Geiler Damian
A recent report says Nebraskan immigrants generated more than $22 billion in total production of goods and services in 2019 — contributing $2 billion in the Omaha and Council Bluffs metropolitan area alone.
That’s according to the University of Nebraska of Omaha’s Office of Latino/ Latin American Studies, or OLLAS, which published the report in August of 2021. Based on data from the Census Bureau and previous OLLAS studies, the report shows the growing impact of immigrant populations on local and state economies as spenders and workers.
“Time and again our studies confirm just how valuable the first-generation foreign-born population is to Nebraska’s productive labor force,” said Dr. Christopher Decker, the author of the 45-page report and a UNO professor of economics.
Immigrants have been critical contributors to Nebraska’s workforce history, and the recent OLLAS report illuminates the workforce’s growth and impact in the past decades. Between 2010 and 2019, immigrants’ contribution to production increased by 71.4% in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area and by 90.4% in the whole state of Nebraska, according to the study.
Data shows Omaha and Nebraska rely heavily on foreign-born residents, especially Latin American immigrants, in three key workforces: construction; animal slaughtering and processing; and restaurant and food services.
In the meatpacking industry, immigrants make up 61% of the workforce, with Latin American immigrants holding 43% of the jobs. Almost all construction positions held by immigrants in Nebraska are occupied by Latin American immigrants, who make up 12% of the positions in a workforce that’s 14% immigrant workers. The same trend follows in the food service industry, where Latin American immigrants hold 7% of jobs, of which 10% are held by immigrants.
“These findings confirmed that immigrants, especially Latin American immigrants, play a critical role in the food processing and food services sectors, and without them, it would bring severe disruptions that might cause food shortages,” wrote Yuriko Doku, the assistant director of OLLAS, in a recent blog post.
The report also highlights how immigrant populations have continued to be essential consumers in Nebraska’s economies, despite historically having lower average income levels than individuals born in Nebraska.
Between 2010 and 2019, foreign-born residents in the Omaha and Council Bluffs area increased their spending from $1.4 billion to $2.4 billion. In the same timeframe, Latin American and Caribbean-born immigrants of the metro area went from spending $543 million to $981 million.
One major take away the report finds is that there is little evidence to support the idea that immigrant groups take more from public programs than they pay into, when compared to Nebraska-born individuals.
“Some evidence seems to suggest that immigrant groups pay in more than they draw out, while the nativeborn group seems to pay in just about the same as they draw out,” the report says.
Read the full report here, and visit the website or call (402) 554-3835 for more information about OLLAS.