According to US Census Bureau data, in 2009 12.5 percent or 38.5 million of the population were foreign-born people where foreign-born is defined as anyone who was not a United States citizen at birth. Over half of these immigrants entered the United States during the last 20 years. (Walters et al. October 2010) More recently, 7 million immigrants or 17 percent arrived in 2005 or later. (Walters et al. November 2011) Foreign-born people constituted 14.7 percent of the labor force in 2005, up from 5.3 percent in 1970. (Ottaviano et al. August 2006) This increase in immigration has rekindled the discussion about the effect of immigration on native-born workers. United States policy makers, economists and news outlets have been trying to quantify and report on the effect the increasing immigration numbers has on United States citizens. The resulting reports are conflicting; while some point to decreasing wages and increased unemployment for our native-born population, others conclude that the effect of immigration on wages and employment is minimal and possibly even beneficial. After exploring several reports , I conclude that immigration is good for the economy, the labor market and the native-born workers.
How large is the immigrant population? From where did they arrive? What is their educational background? Recent Census Bureau data shows that “nearly 14 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the country from 2000 to 2010, making it the highest decade of immigration in American history.” (Camarota October, 2011) Figure 1 depicts the immigrant population in the United States for the last 110 years with 2010 being the largest with 40 million total immigrants. Figure 1 also illustrates the percentage the Unit...
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...ed November 20, 2011. http://www.nber.org/papers/w12497. (Ottaviano et al. August 2006)
Shierholz, Heidi. Ecoomic Policy Institute, "Immigration and Wages metholological Advancements Confirm Modest Gains for Native Workers." Last modified February 4, 2010. Accessed December 3, 2011. http://www.epi.org/publications/bp255/. (Shierholz February 4, 2010)
Walters, Nathan P., and Rachel Cortes. U.S.Census Bureau, "Year of Entry of the Foreign-Born Population: 2009." Last modified October 2010. Accessed November 2, 2011. www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-17.pdf. (Walters et al. October 2010)
Walters, Nathan P., and Edward N. Trevelyan. U.S.Census Bureau, "The Newly Arrived Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 2010." Last modified November 2011. Accessed December 3, 2011. www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acsbr10-16.pdf. (Walters et al. November 2011)
America is undergoing significant social change. While in 1960, white people made up 85 percent of the population, in the latest census it was projected that by 2043, the United States would “be the first post-industrial society in the world where minorities will be the majority” (Deasy, 2012). The 1965 Immigration Act is said to have opened the door to waves of new immigration from Mexico, Latin America and Asia, and the cumulative social impacts have been far reaching. The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to critically review a handful of research papers that explore some of the impacts that immigration has had on the United States, with a particular focus on the research methodologies adopted. It finds that while many papers focus on the use of quantitative research methodologies to measure
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
Vincent, G. K., & Velkoff, V. A. (2010, May). Retrieved MJune 2010, from U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p25-1138.pdf
Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: a History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York: Perennial, 2002. Print.
In 2007, the White House issued this statement in hopes to influence a Congressional debate: “Immigration has a positive effect on the American economy as a whole and on the income of native-born American workers” (Pear). This statement relates to the idea that immigrants actually enhance the productivity of American workers and increase their earnings in a significant amount, estimated at $37 billion a year (Pear). This is just one way in which immigrants support economic development in the United States. Since the U.S. is an i...
The United States cannot afford to lose the economic gains that come from immigrant labor. The economy would be suffering a greater loss if it weren’t for immigrants and their labor contributions, especially during the 2008 U.S. recession. The U.S. economy would most likely worsen if it weren’t for the strong labor force immigrants have provided this country. Despite the mostly negative views native-born Americans have towards immigrants and the economy, their strong representation in the labor forces continues today. Immigrants aren’t taking “American” jobs, they are taking the jobs that Americans don’t want (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Immigrants contribute to various aspects of the economy, including brining valuable skills to their jobs, contributing to the cost of living through taxes, and the lacked use of welfare, healthcare, and social security when compared to native-born Americans, showing that the United States cannot afford to lose the contribution immigrants bring into the economy.
“A Nation of Immigrants.” Pew Hispanic. Pew Research Center, 29 January 2013. Web. 15 September 2013.
Immigrants have done many accomplishments for the U. S and are a critical piece of the puzzle. Immigrants have come to the United States to build a better live for themselves but, in the process have done much more. The topic of immigration is debatable one. Many Americans agree that immigrants are essential to the economy. However, several individuals would disagree. Eric A Ruark and Matthew Graham argue, ‘“Regardless of views about the overall economic effect of immigration, almost all economists agree that poor native workers bear the brunt of its negative consequences” (par.12). Ruark and Graham state that many may have different views on how immigrants have impacted the U. S economy but, most don’t see that natives have to take the negative hit economically. Immigrants are taking away what natives are supposed to be benefiting from, millions of jobs are being taken away from natives by immigrants resulting in a profit for immigrants and nothing for the natives also when it comes to healthcare immigrants inability to pay for medical attention is causing hospitals and emergency rooms to shut down due to the lack of profit and not being able to afford to stay open, which affects the natives who work in these hospitals and ER’s and who go in for medical care. Ruark and Graham fail to realize that immigrants do not come to the U. S to take away what so many have built for themselves
Illegal immigrants in the United States (US) have long been a topic of debate for policymakers and the public. The rationale about them is that they do not pay taxes; they add to the costs of taxpayers and use up funds in resources meant for assisting citizens and legal immigrants (the legal citizens). Therefore, they are perceived as a threat to the US economy. The true impacts of illegal immigrants on the US economy are discussed by debating over the economic benefits as well as economic costs of these immigrants. The negative impacts, discussed first, presented the decreases in low skilled jobs’ wage rates for legal immigrants and citizens instigated by illegal immigrants, the social services such as educations and healthcare that they utilize and add to taxpayers. Then contrary to the negative impacts, the positive impacts reveal benefits of low production costs, increases in the local market sales, undocumented tax generation, impact on growth and employment brought forth by illegal immigrants. These impacts, both negative and positive, are independently analyzed and weighed against each other. The discussion does show a slight net positive impact on the US economy in contrast to the normal belief about illegal immigrants.
It has been observed that, from history American has served as a destination for most immigrants in the world the world (Williams 16).
Immigration is one of the most trending topics in the presidential campaign, generating furious debate over the situations that America faces. Whether it be deporting illegal immigrations, granting them a form of amnesty, or building a wall between the United States and Mexico, the immigration process is constantly deliberated. A total of 300,000 jobs were created in the December of 2015. However, there is a constant argument about the income distribution, with the amount of jobs that are supposedly being lost to immigrants. At the top of the social classes, wages are increasing. In the middle and bottom strata, wages are stagnate. However, there is more complexity in order to understand how immigrants are truly impacting our economy and our lives.
Nadadur, Ramanujan. “Illegal Immigration: A Positive Economic Contribution to the United States.” Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies 35.6 (July 2009): 1037-1052. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 March 2011.
Erika, Lee. "U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues." Journal of American Ethnic History. Vol. 20. Issue 2 (2001): n. page. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
The United States of America, being a country founded by immigrants, is known all over the world as the land of great opportunities. People from all walks of life travelled across the globe, taking a chance to find a better life for them and their family. Over the years, the population of immigrants has grown immensely, resulting in the currently controversial issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are the people who have overstayed the time granted on their US, visa or those who have broken the federal law by crossing the border illegally. Matt O’Brien stated in his article “The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007.”(Para, 2) While some argue that illegal immigrants burden the United States of America and its economy, others believe that they have become essential and are an important part of the US, economy.
Immigration has a significant negative impact on the U.S economy. Consequently, amplifying the work demand between the early 80's thru the end of the 90's, immigration diminished the median, yearly net income of a native born citizen of the United States roughly $1,700. Among those born on U.S. soil,who didn't possess a high school diploma, approximately the most indigent ten percent of all workers, the assessed consequence was even greater, causing a reduction in pay by nearly 8 percent. The disadvantageous effects on United States endemic African-American and Latin laborers are somewhat greater than on Caucasians, due to the fact that a much bigger percentage of non-majority ethnic groups are in point-blank rivalry with non-citizens. The lower rate of pay happens irrespective of whether they are documented or undocumented aliens. It's the existence of extra employees that brings about a reduction in pay, not their legitimacy (Davidson, 2006).