Chamber wants to enhance impact on economy

Immigrants and refugees already contribute $8 billion to the Salt Lake City metro area GDP, wield $2.7 billion in spending power in Salt Lake County and provide $236 million in state and local taxes annually.

Immigrants and refugees already contribute $8 billion to the Salt Lake City metro area GDP, wield $2.7 billion in spending power in Salt Lake County and provide $236 million in state and local taxes annually.

But a new task force wants those figures to grow.

The New Americans Task Force at the Salt Lake Chamber by mid-summer will recommend ways to enhance economic opportunities for immigrants and their businesses. “Enriching the environment for the new Americans so that they can succeed when they come here” is how businessman Dinesh Patel described it during the task force launch event.

The task force — consisting of about 60 people from business, government and the community — is an initiative of the chamber, Salt Lake County and the Partnership for a New American Economy. Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams will chair the group, and serving as co-chairs are Patel and Lane Beattie, chamber president and chief executive officer.

“We’re launching an exciting project that builds on the economic momentum here in the Salt Lake Valley that stems from the growth and the diversity of our population,” McAdams said. “This is a place where we celebrate the contributions of hard-working and innovative people, no matter what their country of origin may be. Welcoming people here is not only the compassionate thing to do for our community, but it also brings resiliency and vibrancy to our economy.”

One goal of the initiative is to highlight the impacts to Utah’s economy from immigrant businesses and innovation. For example, of the $2.7 billion in spending power held by foreign-born people in Salt Lake County, Hispanic immigrants contribute 44 percent and about one-fourth is from Asian immigrants. While foreign-born people account for 12.7 percent of the county population, they represent 14.9 percent of the county’s self-employed population A total of 6,783 foreign-born people work for their own businesses, generating $145 million in business income.

Those figures are from 2014, and additional statistics are at www.slco.org/mayor/blog.

“Part of the goal here is to make sure we assimilate new immigrants and also for people to understand the value that’s created by people coming to the state of Utah,” Patel said.

Various demographic statistics indicate Utah is becoming more diverse. From 2009 to 2014, the foreign-born population of Salt Lake County grew by nearly 20 percent, while overall population growth was 5.5 percent.

“A lot of people still think of Utah as lily-white, but the Hispanic population, I believe, is in the 15 to 20 percent range, so we do have a pretty diverse population although the perception is not there,” said Patel, a member of the chamber’s Board of Governors, an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist.

“It is absolutely imperative,” Beattie said, “that people understand that in a booming economy, it’s not just an opportunity, it’s a necessity to make sure that we find every possible way we can to make sure these wonderful people — foreign-born individuals — have an opportunity to grow and thus grow our economy here in the state of Utah.”

Patel said Salt Lake City has been listed at the top of many economic rankings, including those related to technology and job creation. He attributed that to skilled immigrants. “They’re not taking away jobs,” he said. “They’re actually creating more jobs than we had before.”

McAdams said the task force will develop short- and long-term policy recommendations for government and initiatives for local businesses by the end of July. Among options are encouraging employers to develop or support local English classes and internship programs; more advertising of existing programs that support new entrepreneurs, such as microlending; and partnering with local financial institutions to increase financial literacy and support asset development.

Utah has lots of entrepreneurial success stories, including those involving the immigrant population. “The question for us is, can we do better?” McAdams said. “Can we do more? Can we help connect them to opportunities better and sooner and faster, that will continue to fuel growth in our Utah economy?”

Patel said that when Utah companies try to recruit people from out-of-state to work here, they ask about diversity. For example, Hindus wonder if there will be a temple or if other Hindus live in Utah, he said. Utah companies are doing better at hiring more-diverse staffs and “we are seeing more people come in because they understand the value, the lifestyle, the economic benefits of being in Utah,” he said.

“One of the things that the immigrants do is bring diversity. When you look at any thriving economy, people will go to an area that’s diverse. They want diversity — cultural, economic, racial, whatever. So immigrants do add a lot. They add a lot of flavor to what we have here. … They cover the spectrum.”

McAdams said Utah has always been welcoming to refugees and immigrants and was, in fact, founded by refugees. Thus, the task force is “a continuation of that spirit and the work that has already been done for many, many years,” he said.

New Americans have an entrepreneurial spirit and “are an enormous fuel to our economy,” McAdams said. “What can we do to better tap into them, to help them to reach the opportunities that can fuel the American economy and growth and create jobs in our state of Utah?”

Nationwide, more than one-third of innovators were born outside the U.S., despite being only 13 percent of the national population. Many have degrees in subjects related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

“We want to harness all that great energy and ensure that we are doing everything possible as a community to encourage and enhance those contributions that they make,” McAdams said.