July

26, 2011

Boost U.S. Job Creation and Grow the Economy with Employment-based Immigration Reform

Business Leaders Applaud Senators Schumer and Cornyn for Focusing on the Job-creating and Economic Benefits of High-Skilled Green Card and Visa Reform

Business Roundtable CEOs, who lead companies that employ more than 13 million people, today applauded Chairman Charles Schumer (D-NY), Ranking Member John Cornyn (R-TX) and all members of the Senate Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security for making the job- creating and economic case for high-skilled immigration reform at todays hearing: The Economic Imperative for Enacting Immigration Reform.

The economic imperative for reforming the green card and visa systems U.S. employers use to hire highly educated, foreign-born professionals could not be clearer: 40 percent of 2010 Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants, employing more than 10 million people. (Partnership for a New American Economy, 2011)

More than a quarter of U.S. technology and engineering businesses launched between 1995 and 2005 had a foreign-born founder. (The Brookings Institution, 2011) For technology firms with fewer than 5,000 employees, each H-1B position (temporary visas reserved for high-skilled workers) was associated with an increase of employment of 7.5 workers. (National Foundation for American Policy, 2008)

In 2005, companies founded by immigrants produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers. (The Brookings Institution, 2011)

To Help Spur U.S. Job Creation, Reform the Employment-based Green Card and Visa Systems This Year!
Business Roundtable (BRT) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with nearly $6 trillion in annual revenues and more than 13 million employees. BRT member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock market and invest more than $114 billion annually in research and development nearly half of all private U.S. R&D spending. Our companies pay more than $179 billion in dividends to shareholders.

Learn more about BRTs Education, Workforce and Innovation Initiative.

BRT companies give nearly $9 billion a year in combined charitable contributions. 1717 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, NW SUITE 800 WASHINGTON, DC 20036 202-872-1260 WWW.BRT.ORG