Immigrants sending more money out of country than ever

JaJae · 10-21-2006, 01:33 PM

Immigrants seen sending $45 bln from U.S. to Latam
Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:56 PM ET

By Adriana Garcia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Latin American immigrants living in the United States are sending home more money more frequently, according to an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report released on Wednesday.

Some 12.6 million, or 73 percent of all adult Latin Americans living in the United States, will send a total of around $45 billion to their countries of origin this year, up from some $30 billion in 2004, the report said.

The percentage of immigrants sending money on a regular basis has increased from 61 percent in 2004 to 73 percent in 2006, said the bank, and the average amount of each remittance also grew, from $240 to $300.

Most of the immigrants said they did not have full-time jobs in their countries when they moved to the United States, but most of them found work within a month of arrival, and 38 percent found it in less than two weeks.

The average salary for their first job in the United States was $900, six times more than what they made at home, said

IDB.

"If the U.S. labor market is going to continue to expand, more workers will have to come from outside of the United States", said Donald F. Terry, manager of IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund, which commissioned the report.

The survey also found that more than half of the immigrants were under 35 years of age and three out of every five were considered "working poor," making under $30.000 a year.

"We are talking about parking attendants, hotel maids, construction workers," said pollster Sergio Bendixen, whose company was commissioned to prepare the report.

Bendixen said almost half of all remittance senders have been in the United States for more than 10 years. "Latin Americans tend not to forget about their families," he said.

Traditionally, these transfers have been used to meet daily expenses, but Bendixen found a growing number of migrants interested in investing in Latin America.

Over the past years IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund has encouraged more service providers to enter the remittances market -- mainly banks, credit unions and microfinance institutions focused on lower income clients.

The report, which covered 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, was conducted among 2,511 adults born in Latin America and working in the United States.

New Mexico showed an increase of 260 percent in the amount of remittances in the past two years, from $103 million in 2004 to $370 million in 2006, and immigrants were attracted by the booming tourism and service sectors, Bendixen said.

Louisiana had the second-largest increase, 240 percent. The population of Latin American migrants nearly doubled there in that period, as many laborers arrived to work in reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina.

States that traditionally have had large Hispanic populations are still the biggest source of remittances but Georgia, Maryland, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arkansas, South Carolina, Nebraska and Iowa saw increases of more than 80 percent over the past two years, the bank said.

It's up 50% in two years. This is turning into an epidemic. When is our government going to stand up to this? We really need people in power who aren't giving in to these special interest groups and are willing to do what's right for America.

6SpeedTA95 · 10-21-2006, 01:37 PM

The government wont stand up to it unless we stand up to the government. The latino vote is the next big voting bloc in our country. If we dont vote these pandering assholes out now we'll never get them out.

SoFlaJDM · 10-21-2006, 01:38 PM

what's illegal about this? just curious

JaJae · 10-21-2006, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

what's illegal about this? just curious

Aside from the fact that the majority of them are in this country illegally, not paying taxes on the money and commiting other crimes just to be in this country... nothing.

I'm not saying sending money out is illegal. I'm saying it's hurting America and we need to do something about it. Whether it's relaxed immigration to let them come here legally or putting an end to it.

SoFlaJDM · 10-21-2006, 01:46 PM

the article didn't even mention illegals... it says "Latin Americans"

6SpeedTA95 · 10-21-2006, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

what's illegal about this? just curious

Nothing in this article. I think his point is this is the 12.7 million that are legal that are able to send money out of the country without a problem, it is within their rights as legal immigrants/citizens. But the fact that there's another 12 million here illegally that we can't tabulate is what the problem is. Illegal activity is not mentioned in this report because its impossible to get an accurate tab. But if we know legal immigrants are sending x amount of money it helps provide a more realistic estimate as to how the illegal population is behaving with regards to money.

motivez · 10-21-2006, 01:50 PM

Illegal immigrants sending money to Mexico is Mexico's biggest industry, netting them more money than their tourism industry.

Without that money, that country would sink. Maybe the people would riot and put an end to the corruption currently screwing them over.

One interesting thing pointed out by either that article or a similar one which I read is that eventually, the money being sent over there has the capability of fixing the economical problems they face, resulting in less need/desire for people to come over here and make money to send back to their families.

6SpeedTA95 · 10-21-2006, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

Illegal immigrants sending money to Mexico is Mexico's biggest industry, netting them more money than their tourism industry.

Without that money, that country would sink. Maybe the people would riot and put an end to the corruption currently screwing them over.

One interesting thing pointed out by either that article or a similar one which I read is that eventually, the money being sent over there has the capability of fixing the economical problems they face, resulting in less need/desire for people to come over here and make money to send back to their families.

Good post but I disagree that the money being sent over there is going to fix or has the capability to fix their economy. Its a drop in the bucket the people have to weed out corruption if they want their economy fixed. Ultimately its their government hindering development.

KatKanPlay · 10-21-2006, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Good post but I disagree that the money being sent over there is going to fix or has the capability to fix their economy. Its a drop in the bucket the people have to weed out corruption if they want their economy fixed. Ultimately its their government hindering development.

And that isnt likely to happen as long as those very same governments have the financial support of US Corporations. I am beginning to sound like a broken record........

6SpeedTA95 · 10-21-2006, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by KatKanPlay

And that isnt likely to happen as long as those very same governments have the financial support of US Corporations. I am beginning to sound like a broken record........

What financial support is this?