HispanicBusiness

A bipartisan report released today to coincide with a Hub talk by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg concludes that immigrants play an increasingly important role in the entrepreneurial economy.

The report by the Partnership for a New American Economy, which has 10 co-chairmen including Murdoch, finds that the business startup rate among immigrants has grown by 50 percent while the rate of businesses started by U.S. natives declined by 10 percent from 1996 to 2011.

"U.S. Census data makes clear that we are increasingly relying on immigrant entrepreneurs to drive business growth in America," the report states.

Based on census data from the American Community Survey, the study found that in Massachusetts, 17.5 percent of new businesses, or 50,778, are owned by immigrant founders.

Among other findings:

--Immigrants are now more than twice as likely to start a business than their American-born counterparts.

--Twenty-eight percent of businesses started in the United States last year were founded by immigrants, even though they account for just 12.9 percent of the U.S. population.

--Income from immigrant-owned businesses jumped 60 percent in the past decade.

Tonight's forum featuring Bloomberg and Murdoch, moderated by Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal, is scheduled to focus on the role of immigrants in the American economy, the need for reforms that could create new American jobs and the political gridlock that has hampered immigration reform.

"If we are serious about strengthening our economy and helping more Americans get back to work, we need both parties in Washington -- and both presidential campaigns -- to start making immigration reform a top national priority," Bloomberg said in a statement.

Added Mayor Thomas M. Menino, "Many of our local stores, restaurants and businesses were started by immigrants to our country and we must preserve that opportunity for the American dream -- it benefits us all."