Immigration in the United States

Economists broadly agree that immigration would in fact be great for the earnings and productivity of the immigrants themselves. It often has a net benefit for the economy as a whole, even with some winners and losers. This is called the “immigration surplus.” It’s also proven that immigrants, includin... ... middle of paper ... ...tin America immigrants do too (NY Times). With immigration looking so attractive, most nations are in the race to win global talent. Over the past 10 years, nearly 60% of nations are moving to increase or maintain their immigrant intakes, especially for highly-skilled immigrants.

Immigrants have a big impact on the economy, which helps the U.S. economy become more prosperous. Immigrants help stabilize the U.S. economy and provides more of a positive impact than negative on the country. Immigrants working for cheap labor and getting jobs helps the U.S. economy financially. Immigrants bring in a positive influence and benefits not only to the economy, but to the country as a whole. A Bipartisan Policy Center study showed how a major overhaul of immigrants could boost the economic recovery of the U.S.

The number of immigrants living in the United States has almost tripled since 1970, dramatically altering the nation's demographic and social mix because the vast majority of current immigrants are either Hispanic or Asian. Overall, immigrants now account for nearly 10 percent of the nation's residents, the highest level since the 1920s. About one in four Californians and one in three residents of New York are foreign-born.

Immigration is a complicated system that grows larger and larger throughout the years. Middle Eastern immigration has grown by the thousands since the 1970’s not only the Middle East, but the U.S. immigration as well. 55% of immigrants come from Mexico and about 40% reside in California. Lots of people believe that immigrants are bad for the nation but studies show otherwise. Overall, Middle Eastern immigrants exist as much as Mexican immigrants.

This, coupled with the influx of new births after WWII, commonly referred to as the “Baby Boomer” generation, has contributed to an American population dominated by 50 to 60 year olds. This drastic increase can directly effect multiple areas of our society. Economically, we will see a decrease in the workforce because of a growing retiree community. Increases in the public debt would result largely from high health costs associated with the care of those over 65 and proportionally fewer taxpayers under 65 replenishing government revenues. People over 65 comprised 13 percent of the... ... middle of paper ... ...th can affect the health and productivity of the next generation of Americans.” This abstract looks at the need to concern ourselves with this generations health and wellness.

Since 1950, U.S. population has nearly doubled - growing from 151 million to over 294 million today. If present trends continue, our population will exceed 400 million by the year 2050. Immigration contributes over one million people to the U.S. population annually. The total foreign-born population in the U.S. is now 31.1 million, a record 57 percent increase since 1990. About 8 million of those are here illegally--a 4.5 million increase since 1990.

There are many benefits immigration has created in the U.S. economy. Immigrants migrating to America create a larger work force and in turn reduce the equilibrium unemployment rate in the long run. Steven A. Camarota’s research findings explain that “the presence of immigrant workers (legal and illegal) in the labor market makes the U.S. economy (GDP) an estimated 11 percent larger ($1.6 trillion) each year (Camarota).” Immigrants most often come to America because they don’t have the opportunities to make money in their home country that they would have here. This makes immigrants more inelastic suppliers of labour. They have a higher motivation to work, are more flexible, and if less educated, work for lower wages.

9 July 2010. Newman, Alex. “Immigration News Update.” The New American. (2009): 10-16. SIRS.

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.

"USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." State and County QuickFacts. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.