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Press & Guide Newspapers – August 22, 2007
People with Arab ancestry play
vital role in area economy
By Elizabeth Schock
DEARBORN/DETROIT - Wayne State University and the League for Economic Empowerment (LEE) released their Southeast Michigan Arab American Economic Impact Study in early May.
The purpose of this one-of-a-kind study of Arab Americans in Michigan is to gauge the economic impact that persons of Arab ancestry have on Southeast Michigan such as overall earnings, purchasing power, occupational/industry breakdowns and business ownership, according to LEE's Web site.
"The first step in this study was to identify employment of different industries in Southeast Michigan," said Lyke Thompson, director of Wayne State's Center for Urban Studies, where the study was conducted.
The REMI (Regional Economic Model Inc.) was used to conduct the study and crunch the numbers.
The study used employment figures from the United States Census Bureau's Decennial Census and American Community Surveys from 2000 and 2005.
"What I think is really important to take away from this study is that Arab Americans act as great ambassadors and very important bridges for the U.S. to the rest of the world," Thompson said.
"Some Arab Americans own their own businesses here, and in another parts of the world, most likely their home country. They help us build global relationships for the U.S., especially little landlocked Southeast Michigan."
The model generated estimates for employment contributions, earnings contributions, and tax contributions within four counties in Southeast Michigan: Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne.
A key result of the study was that, in terms of total contribution, Arab American economic activity supports between 99,494 and 141,541 jobs in southeastern Michigan (or 4 to 5.7 percent).
This contribution can be shown in terms of the economic multiplier effect, used in the study, for employment in the region.
The REMI model calculated a multiplier of 2.06 to 2.08. This means that, on average, every Arab American job helps in contributing more than one additional job to the region.
As of the 2005 U.S. census statistics, there are 162,000 Arab Americans living in Southeast Michigan. Of that, about 68,515 were employed.
According to the study, Arab Americans represent 1.8 and 2.6 percent of all state tax revenues collected in 2005. "We assume these numbers have gone up," Thompson said. "But these are very close estimates and the numbers could only increase."
Findings of the study revealed that $7.7 billion in wages and salary earnings in Southeast Michigan economy are directly associated with Arab American salaries and business initiatives…..
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