WASHINGTON, May 22: Immigration has become the key to growth of the US labour force and immigrants provide a net fiscal benefit to the US economy, says the 2005 Economic Report of the President. It recognizes that the outdated US immigration system is in need of reform and proposes a new temporary worker programme. Immigration advocacy groups, however, have also proposed creating a pathway to legal status for most of the undocumented immigrants already in the United States and expanding the avenues for permanent immigration, as well as crafting tougher wage and labour laws.

The report observes: “Immigration has touched every facet of the US economy and America is a stronger and better nation for it.” The degree to which immigration is embedded in the social fabric of the United States is evident in the fact that nearly a quarter of the population is either foreign-born or the child of someone who is foreign-born.

According to statistics released by the US Census Bureau, there were 34.2 million foreign-born persons in the US in 2004, comprising 12 per cent of the total population. A March 2005 study by the Pew Hispanic Centre places the total number of foreign-born persons in the country at 35.7 million in 2004.

The Census Bureau estimates that the majority, 53 per cent, of the foreign-born in that year were from Latin America, while 25 per cent were from Asia, 14 per cent from Europe, and 8 per cent from Africa, Oceania, and other parts of the world.

In addition, 30.4 million Americans, or 11 per cent of the population, were “second generation,” with one or both parents born in another country. The Centre for Labour Market Studies at Northeastern University estimates that 14.9 per cent of the labour force was foreign-born in the first four months of 2004, amounting to 21.8m workers. Foreign-born workers account for a higher percentage of the labour force in specific occupations at both ends of the educational spectrum.