“And with one in five people in Philly’s workforce being born abroad, it’s more important than ever to have conversations like this,” said Hayley Boyle, senior vice president of programs at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.
By Jensen Toussaint. March 12, 2025.
Image Credit: Pexels/Craig-Adderley
Immigrants play a vital role in the United States economy, and their contributions are critical to helping drive economic and cultural growth.
Panelists (from left to right): Andrea Hearn, director of human resources at Children's Crisis Treatment Center; Emma Baylin, director of workforce development initiatives at the Philadelphia Department of Commerce; Anurag Jain, founder and CEO of Prepay Nation. Moderator (far right): Anuj Gupta. Photo Credits: Jensen Toussaint | Inti Media
That was a major topic discussed during the recent GPLEX 360 event, an annual conference hosted by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia that brings together diverse, cross-sector leaders to discuss ways to become changemakers, which spotlighted Philadelphia’s immigrant workforce.
The event, which took place Thursday, Feb. 13, was put together thanks to a partnership between the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, and The Welcoming Center. It was a continuation of conversations that took place during the GPLEX 2024 Summit in San Diego.
“Philadelphia is a global city. We have over 640 international companies based here, and we have companies both big and small across our city that export $21.6 billion in goods,” said Hayley Boyle, senior vice president of programs at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.
“And with one in five people in Philly’s workforce being born abroad, it’s more important than ever to have conversations like this. It’s what makes our city culturally diverse. It’s what makes our city strong and vibrant,” she continued.
A deep dive into some statistics
Anuj Gupta, President and CEO of The Welcoming Center, presented some compelling statistics about just how impactful immigrants are on the local economy.
Anuj Gupta, President and CEO of The Welcoming Center. Image Credits: Jensen Toussaint | Inti Media
To start, he put into perspective the current climate of American society.
“Immigrants are under attack,” he said, noting that he is making no distinction between those who are undocumented and those who are.
While he often feels that individuals and institutions that should speak up and take action may instead opt to fall silent, now is the time to step up. “We have seen this too many times in world history where the lack of action and the lack of words is essentially seeding ground and legitimizing things,” Gupta said.
The facts about immigrants in Philadelphia speaks volumes.
“We are a city in which over the last 15 years, 100,000 net new foreign-born residents have come to call home, almost single-handedly mitigating over 57 years of population decline,” he said.
According to Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia immigrants accounted for 36% of the city’s 41,000 self-employed business owners as of 2022. Most of them are sole proprietors.
In addition, Gupta noted that immigrants are a significant portion of the city’s tax base, paying 15% of the city’s property tax, 17% of its wage tax, and 22% of Philadelphia’s business tax, respectively.
“That is the truth and reality of immigration in this country,” Gupta said.
After Gupta’s remarks, a panel discussion featuring three local leaders who discussed how they, along with their associated organizations, are taking steps toward fostering workforce integration followed. The discussion served as a reminder that “when we act in collective action, when we take collective action armed with the facts, there is real power in that,” added Gupta.
Entrepreneurship as a path to wealth creation
Anurag Jain is the founder and CEO of Prepay Nation. While he has now been an entrepreneur for over two decades, he didn’t migrate from India to New York City in 2001 to start a business.
“But I did because I didn’t think there was a lot of opportunity for me as an employee,” Jain said. “I thought that there would be a ceiling after a point in time where I would not be able to grow, and the only thing which came to my mind is instead of working for somebody, why don’t I work for myself and create jobs for others?”
Prepay Nation is a leading global B2B marketplace for prepaid products.
“We help immigrants send small values across international boundaries,” explained Jain.
Gupta brought up the idea that the prospect of entrepreneurship for immigrants is two-fold.
“One could be: immigrants face credentialing barriers in the workforce here, and so they simply can’t make lateral moves, and the workaround is starting their own business,” he said. “The other explanation could be that because of inherent biases, they simply can’t advance in their careers in the way that they would like to, in the way they envision … [and] they want to become their own boss.”
While Jain is in agreement about both being factors to the ordeal, he brought up another.
Immigrants are individuals who leave their native country behind and start a new life where everything around them is different.
“They are risk takers, and risk-taking ability is one of the basic fundamental requirements for an entrepreneur,” he said.
A diverse workforce is a strong workforce
The City of Philadelphia has been making efforts to create a pathway for immigrant talent to enter the workforce for years.
In 2018, the City launched a new fellowship that aimed to help qualified immigrant job seekers develop skills and work experience while at different City departments.
Emma Baylin, director of workforce development initiatives at the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, noted that about 40% to 50% of the participants who took part in the first two years of the fellowship were able to obtain full-time, permanent positions within the department their fellowship was in.
The City will be relaunching the fellowship this year after a few years of discontinuation.
“We’re very excited for this year,” said Baylin. “There are about 15 participants looking for fellowships … and so we’re excited to revamp and relaunch all this with our city departments.”
Having a diverse workforce with immigrant talent is also valuable within the nonprofit world.
Children’s Crisis Treatment Center (CCTC), a nonprofit that provides mental and behavioral health services to children and families throughout Philadelphia, Montgomery County, and Camden, prides itself on that.
“One of the great things about our organization is there’s a lot of programs that we’ve implemented to help support bringing our current culture along with us, meaning we’re an extremely diverse organization,” said Andrea Hearn, director of human resources at CCTC. “Our makeup really matches the client populations that we serve.”
To help further support employees and address some of the workforce gaps, CCTC has started implementing visa sponsorships for immigrants, and partnering with diverse organizations to help it reach international markets.
“We have a lot of great employees that are from a lot of different areas that we can help to leverage, to have these conversations, and invite a lot of the immigrant workforce and population into our community,” Hearn added.
Leveraging the immigrants revitalizing the population
When it comes to the current climate, it’s important to place it into the context of the past.
In 1965, the United States passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which aimed to create a system that paved the way for more immigrants to come to the United States with a preference toward skills and family relationships with U.S. residents and citizens.
While the system was transformational in its time, Gupta noted that no significant congressional or legislative action on immigration policy has been taken in the 60 years since.
“And so, we have an immigration system which is essentially built for an economy of the mid-1960s,” he added.
Since taking office, however, President Trump has signed a series of executive orders to aim to drastically revamp the nation’s immigration policies. The programs and policies are a combination of those he is reviving from his first term, and others that he is looking to implement during this term.
According to ProPublica, Trump signed a total of 10 immigration-related executive orders within his first day in office.
The policies orders include instructing border patrol agents to deport migrants at the Mexico border; disabling the CBP One app, which was used to schedule border crossings; pausing the resettlement of several thousand refugees who had already been vetted and approved to relocate to the United States; ending humanitarian parole for immigrants from nations like Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua; and more.
Immigrants’ continued value to Philadelphia
According to Census data, presented by Pew, immigrants represented the largest portion of Philadelphia’s net population growth in recent decades.
From 2000 to 2022, Philadelphia’s foreign-born population grew by around 109,400, while the U.S.-born population declined by about 59,700 in that same period. Furthermore, the city’s immigrant population grew to around 246,000 in 2022, which is a level that hasn’t been reached since the 1940s.
Assuming that immigrants continue this trend of being the main catalyst for Philadelphia’s population growth, the city will have to make improving the business ecosystem for immigrant entrepreneurs and integrating immigrant talent within the workforce a priority.
Jain suggested that it starts with education.
On one hand, it means immigrants educating themselves about the resources that are available from the state and federal governments that can help pave the way to start a business.
Another way is by leveraging immigrant students.
“If we can somehow get the students to start a business or get into that ecosystem of encouraging them to start a business or a startup, that can definitely change the dynamics of the city,” Jain added.
The education component also falls on the shoulders of employers.
“I think there’s a lot of misinformation and misconception[s] around what documents are needed, what it looks like to hire and work with immigrants and refugees,” Baylin said.
As a result, it’s important to make “sure that we have a collective voice when it comes to amplifying those employers that are already doing the great work,” she added.
All sides have to want to break down barriers, form opportunities, and leverage the diverse talent that is enriching the city.
“It’s extremely important, from an organizational standpoint, to have the buy-in of everyone in regards to the process, and if you’re trying to sell this to your organization, there is a retention component to it, which is huge,” said Hearn.
This project is a part of Every Voice, Every Vote, a collaborative project managed by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. The William Penn Foundation provides lead support for Every Voice, Every Vote in 2024 and 2025 with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Comcast NBC Universal, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, Judy and Peter Leone, Arctos Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 25th Century Foundation, Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, and Philadelphia Health Partnership. To learn more about the project and view a full list of supporters, visit www.everyvoice-everyvote.org. Editorial content is created independently of the project’s donors.