A new report, commissioned by Vancity Credit Union and with data analysis provided by two SFU PhD students, finds that Syrian refugees coming to B.C. over the next few months will contribute an estimated $563 million in local economic activity over the next 20 years.

Economics doctoral students Eric Adebayo, and Ricardo Meilman Cohn, who is also a research assistant at SFU’s Center for Education Research and Policy, spent the past month working on the report, released last week by Vancity.

Among highlights of the report, From Crisis to Community: Syrian Refugees and the B.C. Economy, refugees have higher rates of self-employment, tend to be consumers within their local communities and have a history of helping to grow the local economy.

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