Key Components of Immigration Reform: An Analysis of the Economic Effects of Creating a Pathway to Legal Status, Expanding High-Skilled Visas, & Reforming Lesser-Skilled Visas

Abstract

As the policy debate continues in Washington, DC and throughout the nation, this study shows the state- and national-level economic effects of key components of immigration policy reform. This report evaluates the economic implications of the Path to Legal Status, high-skilled (H-1B) visa expansion, and changes in lesser-skilled visa programs (H-2A, H-2B, and W-1 Visas). The authors use a REMI PI+ model of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to show the macroeconomic effects of the policy changes over the period of 2014 to 2045. PI+ is a multiregional macroeconomic model that has been used in thousands of national and regional economic studies, including studies of other elements of immigration reforms in the United States. Thiis report details the macroeconomic effects of each policy on the national and state level. Key summary macroeconomic indicators include employment, gross domestic (state) product, and personal income. It also provides employment effects by industry for the United States, and a complete set of state-level fact sheets which present results for each policy and all 50 states and the District of Columbia