Photo: Laslovarga/Wikimedia Commons
In a year of fierce debate on immigration policies, a new analysis reveals that 43 percent of the 2017 Fortune top 500 companies were “founded or co-founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.”
The Center for American Entrepreneurship, which analyzed the Fortune 500 data for 2017 – http://startupsusa.org/fortune500 – also revealed that the “occurrence of first- or second-generation immigrant founders is significantly higher among the largest Fortune 500 companies – accounting for 52 percent of the top 25 firms and 57 percent of the top 35 firms.”
The findings of the report on http://startupsusa.org/fortune500 underscore the pivotal role that highly skilled and motivated immigrants and the second generation play in the America’s innovation and economic diversification.
The analysis of the 2017 Fortune 500 data also tells that the immigrant-founded companies are headquartered in 33 of the 50 states.
These firms employ 12.8 million people worldwide, and accounted for $5.3 trillion in global revenue in 2016, the Center for American Entrepreneurship report says.
Immigrant entrepreneurs were particularly impressive in their achievements in the high-tech industry, establishing or co-establishing 45 percent of the companies. In retail/wholesale and finance/insurance areas, immigrants founded or co-founded 37% and 26% of the Fortune 500 companies.
In the fields of media/entertainment, industries, business services and transportation the top companies founded by immigrants outnumber those founded by the native or local entrepreneurs.
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Naturalization Ceremony, Photo: Grand Canyon National Park/Wikimedia Commons
The critical role of immigrant entrepreneurs came to light in 2011, when New American Economy (NAE) – a non-partisan policy organization of 500 Republican, Democratic, and Independent mayors and business leaders – analyzed the national origin of the 2010 Fortune 500 company founders.
In that 2011 analysis the NAE had discovered that more than 40 percent top business ventures had at least one founder who was an immigrant or the child an immigrant.
This year, when President Donald Trump has taken some important steps on immigration issues, pro-immigration advocates and groups have been using the figures sourced from the Fortune 500 data – in addition to other known facts about massive contributions of immigrant workforce and extraordinarily talented professional – to counsel a careful approach to enacting any changes in the policies – especially at a time when the United States faces a growing international competition.
The report also lists some of the most prominent immigrant innovators and their U.S.-born children who gave it a huge edge in the form of technological advancements from Walt Disney to Steve Jobs.
The immigration issue shot to the fore burner during the 2015 election campaign and the debate revolves around the protection of American workers, the need for continued input into innovation, international and local security issues including terrorist incidents, diversity of the American society and analysts say any changes like DACA status for those studying in the United States, and travel restrictions on students form a list of designated countries, has implications for the future of U.S. economy.
