Long Island Business News Article Highlights IRI’s New Report

An article published by the Long Island Business News highlights the findings of IRI’s new report, “Immigrants in the Long Island Economy: Overcoming Hurdles, Yet Still Facing Barriers.” The article discusses the findings of the article that examines the economic circumstances and occupations of immigrants on Long Island. The article also includes the stories of various successful immigrants on Long Island.

IRI’s director, David Dyssegaard Kallick was quoted in the article:

“We really wanted to tell two stories that jump out of the research we did,” Kallick said. “First, the majority of immigrants are in middle- and upper-wage jobs and they’re doing pretty well. At the same time, they are disproportionately likely to be in low-wage jobs and really often struggling to make ends meet. It’s often hard for people to hold both of those thoughts in their head at the same time.”

Kallick said another impetus for the report, which utilized the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, is the public perception of immigration and the people who come here in hopes of a better life.

“Immigration has been such a controversial issue that we often miss the forest for the trees,” Kallick says. “Long Island has been a place where immigrants come and much of the time thrive and it’s also been good for the communities where they live. And sometimes that gets lost in the stuff we see in the news or the overly volatile politics around immigration.”

To read the full article, click here.