Copyright© 1999 by School Services of California, Inc.
PPIC Issues Immigrant Entrepreneur Report
The Public Policy Institute of California has just released a report entitled Silicon Valley's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs. Since the single most important determinant of education funding is the performance of the California economy, the report is very useful to educators. The author finds that a 24% - and growing - segment of new technology businesses founded in Silicon Valley are operated by recent immigrants, and these currently comprise $16.8 billion in annual sales. These immigrant-owned businesses employ more than 58,000 people in 2,775 individual companies.
The report further concludes that because of the interdependence between immigration, trade, and economic development, the new immigrant owners play an important role in the California economy. They also play a continuing role in the economies of their home countries because the old term "brain drain" is more accurately "brain circulation," as many entrepreneurs take their new found skills back to their home countries as they pursue promising global opportunities.
The report may be ordered by e-mail (order@ppic.org), phone (415) 291-4400, or accessed on the Internet (www.ppic.org).
-- Ron Bennett