Although St. Louis stands in the bottom fifth of major metropolitan areas on the overall number of immigrants, the immigrants who live in our region are "unusually likely" to be well-educated, according to the report in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While conceding that "St. Louis is not a big immigrant gateway," author Tim Logan posits that local university, health care and high-tech employers have brought an increasing number of highly-skilled employees to the region.
The report from the Brookings Institution stands as yet another example of the fact that you can't simply stereotype immigrants in broad strokes. St. Louis should do everything it can to bring more and more high-tech employers to the region and to make the region as welcoming as possible - for low-skilled and high-skilled employees as well. On a larger scale, our country needs to reform immigration laws so as to increase the number of immigrants allowed to stay in the United States and develop strong businesses to support our economy.
