The largest immigration boom in U.S. history is expected to lift
earnings at companies from discount retailers to telecommunications
providers, putting dollar signs in the eyes of investors looking to
cash in on the wave of newcomers, mostly from Latin America and Asia.
Demographics is "one of the top five tools any macro analyst and
investment manager should be following," said Robert Justich, senior
managing director at Bear Stearns Asset Management. "And there has been
no bigger demographic change than today's migration." The future looks
promising. "If you are forecasting into the next two decades, you are
looking at an economy with tremendous opportunities in the realm of
immigrant-related activity," said Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, co-director of
immigration studies at New York University. "Never have so many highly
educated and highly skilled (people) come into the immigration flow."
The last big wave in immigration, from 1900 to 1910, was driven by
Europeans. Although slightly higher on a percentage basis, the number
of immigrants in the United States then was less than half of what it
is today, according to the Center for Immigration Studies based in
Washington D.C. Census data from 2003 show nearly 12 percent of the
U.S. population, or about 33.5 million people, are foreign-born, and
demographers see an increase in coming years with both legal and
illegal immigrants coming to the U.S. seeking greater economic
opportunity or religious and political freedom. The recent wave is more
diverse in terms of countries of origin -- from Mexico to India -- and
educational levels, said Suarez-Orozco. [more]
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