PROMINENT BANKERS SAY IMMIGRATION REFORM IS THE KEY TO U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH

Two prominent US bankers recently spoke up in the debate over immigration reform; both stated that immigration is critical to the continued recovery and economic growth of the United States.

Dallas Fed President, Robert Kaplan, said the US population is aging and so participation in the US labor force will decline, creating difficulties for the US economy.  We can do something about this, said Kaplan: “One thing is we could have immigration reform in the United States so that people can come here easily and we can continue to grow the workforce in a safe and secure way.”  Kaplan acknowledged that immigration reform is a difficult debate, but also a necessary one.

Also last week, Minneapolis Fed President, Neel Kashkari, said immigration reform is a critical component of a return to faster economic growth.  “My personal view,” said Kashkari, “is that we should utilize immigration to our advantage as a source for economic growth.  If we have a population that’s not growing it’s much harder to have economic growth.”

The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States. The Federal Reserve has three primary functions:

·         Monetary Policy

·         Banking Supervision

·         Financial Services

The Federal Reserve, also called “The Fed” is led by a Board of Governors in Washington, DC.  A network of 12 Federal Reserve Banks and 24 branches make up the Federal Reserve System under the general oversight of the Board of Governors.  Each of the 12 Reserve Banks serves its region of the country and is led by a Fed President.