Study reframes immigration issue focusing on what is essential in U.S. Economy.

The Essential Economy Council released a new study that has national implications for the debate on U.S. immigration reform as it measured the economic value of industry sectors that commonly employ immigrants. The Georgia-focused study reported that industry sectors like poultry, agribusiness, dining and hospitality contributed 12% or $49 billion of the States GDP in 2010 while their employees paid $114 million in sales tax in 2011.

The research was prompted by business leaders concerned about the future of their workforce due to challenges related to aging demographics, the changing aspirations of young people and the cost of regulations and uncertainty with U.S. immigration policies.

The Essential Economy spans six major industry sectors from agriculture and construction to hospitality and personal care. This economic cluster provides jobs that have traditionally been described as low wage, low skilled and include kitchen staff, janitors, landscape crews, farm workers, nursing aides, stock clerks and other non-managerial positions.

In a key finding, the study found that 25% of Georgia’s workforce is employed in The Essential Economy a figure that has been consistent since 2003.

The Council is distributing its report to both State and Federal policy makers who are focused on immigration policy and is moving forward with a national study this year.

The research was conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology and utilized State and Federal data from 2003 – 2011.

For more information at http://www.essentialeconomy.org>