Immigrant-owned small businesses vital part of economy

In the past two decades, the number of immigrant-owned small businesses has grown in Colorado and the rest of the nation, according to a new report released today by the New York-based Fiscal Policy Institute.

The report, Immigrant Small Business Owners: A Significant and Growing Part of the Economy, provides a detailed profile of immigrant small-business owners and the effect they have on the national and local economies. The report was co-released by the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute and the Bell Policy Center.

The findings include the number and many characteristics of immigrant small-business owners across the country. For Colorado, the data shows:

Immigrant-owned small businesses in Colorado

• There are 13,177 immigrant-owned small businesses in Colorado, according to a 2010 estimate. That's roughly 11 percent of the total number of small businesses in Colorado.
• The total earnings of immigrant small business owners in Colorado is $684 million or 7 percent of the total earnings of small business owners in the state, according to a five-year average from the American Community Survey.

Immigrant business ownership closely linked
with immigrant labor in Colorado

• As the immigrant share of the labor force has increased over time, so too has the immigrant share of small business owners in Colorado.
• This trend exists at the national level as well

For more information, see the Colorado Immigrant Fact Sheet, produced by the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute.