[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] A report has emerged arguing that the United States should allow more immigration to maintain its status as the world's largest economic power for a long time.
According to Bloomberg News on the 7th (local time), the nonprofit organization ForwardUS (FWD.us), which supports immigration expansion, released a report jointly researched with George Mason University on the same day. ForwardUS was established in 2013 with participation from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others. The report states that expanding immigration is directly linked to enhancing the competitiveness of the United States.
The report predicted that if the current trends of U.S. population changes and immigrant increases continue, China will surpass the United States as the world's largest economy by 2030. It also estimated that by 2050, the size of the U.S. economy will be only about three-quarters that of China.
This is because the United States is becoming increasingly aged. The report pointed out that if the current situation continues, the elderly population in the U.S. will increase faster than the working-age population, causing American society to grow older. Accordingly, it warned that the social support costs for the elderly could exceed the tax revenues collected from the working population.
Furthermore, the report stated that the Social Security Trust Fund is currently expected to be depleted by 2034, and to delay this, immigration must be increased.
The report predicted that if immigration were doubled from the current level, the Chinese economy would not be able to surpass the U.S. economy at least until 2035. It also forecasted that by 2050, the gross domestic product (GDP) size would be $46.8 trillion for the U.S. and $49.9 trillion for China, showing little difference. Additionally, it estimated that the dependency ratio, currently expected to be 37 elderly persons per 100 working-age persons in 2050, could be reduced to 31 elderly persons per 100 working-age persons.
FWD.us also expressed support for President Joe Biden's immigration policies.
President Biden is attempting to comprehensively review U.S. immigration laws to make them more humanitarian. He has proposed to Congress to increase the number of people obtaining permanent residency in the U.S. by about 375,000 annually.
The Republican Party opposes Biden's plan to expand immigration. They have strongly criticized President Biden regarding the recent increase in illegal immigration in the southwestern border region of the U.S. Republicans and others opposing immigration argue that immigrants will take away American jobs.
Justin Gest, a professor at George Mason University who co-authored the report, said, "There are people concerned about America First in relation to immigration, but the report shows that accepting immigrants is the best way to support America First."
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