Did you know - immigrants make up a huge portion of the economic output? Some estimates have it above $200 billion.

Back when the Erie Canal was a major gateway- immigration to upstate New York shadowed that of New York City.

Years later, the influx has slowed, but a recent study suggests immigrants impact on the upstate economy is significant.

It's important to make the distinction between documented immigrants and undocumented but the study by the Fiscal Policy Institute combines both.

The study finds that immigrants economic contribution in our region is greater than their share of the population and their share of the labor force.

So what does that mean?

Simply put - upstate immigrants are more likely to be part of the labor force then U.S. born citizens - and they are not just entry level positions.

Over 1/3 of all doctors living in upstate are immigrants, as are 1/5 of all computer software engineers.

And with the exception of maids, every one of the occupations where immigrants represent 10% of workers in the field are high-wage positions.

Now that's not to say that in the more fragile upstate economy that immigrants - especially refugees - are not filling a wide-range of jobs.

The biggest employers of immigrants in our area - Turning Stone Casino, ConMed, and Fiber Instrument Sales - 40 % of their workforce are refugees.

The employment services director at the Refugee Center places over 300 employees with these companies every year and she says employers are impressed with their work.

"They stay in jobs for a long time and they work really hard," said Dana Hubbard of the Refugee Center Employment Services. "I have had employers say their production has gone through the roof with refugees as employees."

The study also took a close look at Utica specifically, where the foreign -born population is nearly double that of other cities its size - that, of course, directly related to the high refugee population.