Report: Immigrant-led households earn almost 14% of all income in Connecticut

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HARTFORD >> A new report shows that immigrant-led households in Connecticut earned $18.9 billion in 2014 – 13.9 percent of all income earned by everyone in the state that year.

The report, Map the Impact, was released by New American Economy (NAE). The report was compiled for all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. and was designed to highlight the impact immigrants have on the nation’s economy.

The report found that in the United States immigrants are more likely to be working-age than their U.S.-born counterparts.

“This allows them to contribute to the U.S. economy and to entitlement programs as they work and pay taxes,” the report said. “This is equally true in Connecticut, where immigrants are far more likely to be of working age than the U.S.-born population,” the report went on to state.

Tony Sheridan, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, focused on that statement in the report during Tuesday’s Legislative Office Building press conference.

Sheridan said that many immigrants spend time in Connecticut getting their college education and then wind up going back to their home countries after they get their degrees.

“That is the height of foolishness,” Sheridan said. “We’re educating them and sending them back while our population is not growing.”

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