How Immigration Contributes to U.S. Economy

Immigration contributes to U.S. Economy

How immigration contributes to U.S. economy

Popular Press

Giovanni Peri

30, August, 2010

The Effect of Immigrants on U.S. Employment and Productivity

The article by Peri narrates the effects of immigration over the total population of the country. He says that the statistical analysis proved that the economy expanded and became more productive after the immigration and the investment also went up. He narrates another opinion that the foreign born U.S. citizens are decreasing the job opportunities for the U.S. born citizens yet there is a consent that output actually increased. He discussed that there is no significant evidence that the jobs grew or dropped for U.S. born workers because of the immigrants. Thus, this means that U.S. workers did not lose jobs because of the immigrants rather new jobs were created for the immigrants that were great for the overall economy.

Peri stated that the population of immigrants is not very small rather the 2008 calculations show that every third worker in California used to be a foreign born. The ratio was one to hundred in West Virginia. There are different influences of immigration on employment, income, and productivity based on the industry. It is found that the young immigrants with less education prefer to do manual jobs thus they have more opportunities in the construction companies. Thus the U.S. born workers are moving away from the manual jobs. Thus the economy has overall benefitted from the immigration but there is no evidence that jobs opportunities decreased for the U.S. born citizens.

Immigrants and the Economy

12 March, 2002

The article published at the forum of American Civil Liberties Union suggests that during the hard economic times, it is a seasonal trend to blame the immigrants for taking away jobs that are actually entitled to the locally born citizens. While the undocumented immigrants are the ones that the public really disfavor, they also have complaints for the legal immigrants. The article suggests that it is a myth that immigrants steal jobs from American workers. The article briefed that many surveys have been conducted in past and especially during the time of Bush to prove the role of immigrants and it was found that they never 'stole' jobs but the economy expanded because of them.

The article presents the fact that about $90 billion are paid in the form of taxes to the state by immigrants (a statistics of 2002). It is said that there are multimillions that the foreign born U.S. citizens pay in form of social work and charity. The survey results in article suggest that according to 1990 American Immigration Institute investigation, the immigrants had a positive impact on economic growth. None said that immigrants had an adverse impact on economic growth. There are many investigation results and the quotations of U.S. officials mentioned in the article proving that immigrants have given a boost to the economy. This is another paper supporting the idea that U.S. economy did benefit from immigrants.

Michael E. Fix and Jeffrey S. Passel

01 May, 1994

Immigration and Immigrants: Setting the Record Straight

The article presents issues and policy related to the area of immigration. It also tells the labor market mechanism and explores how it is affected by the immigration. There were over a million immigrants in 1994 including both legal and illegal immigrants. It is suggested that every year a new bar is set when the share of immigrants in the net annual growth increases. Every year a couple of hundred thousand illegal immigrants enter USA that is the actual burden on the economy since this segment of population only enjoy benefits without paying taxes.

The authors believe that some legal immigrants, too, are decreasing the productivity of the country because they have less education, no training and many of them are not proficient enough in English. It is suggested that the policy should be amended to improve the demands from immigrants with respect to education and English language proficiency because the well-educated immigrants are supporting the economy and even creating new job opportunities. Fix and Passel agreed that there is no overall effect on decreasing jobs because of immigrants. It is also found that the immigrants have higher occurrence of self-employment as compared to the native-born citizens that proves that immigrants paly a positive role on the economy of USA. The article says that the idea that immigrants are a burden on U.S. economy raised due to the economic depression but the careful research and analysis supported that this segment has been helpful in job creation and increasing tax net. Thus the immigrants are supporting public as well as private sectors of the economy.

Websites

Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar

18 May, 2013

The Important Role of Immigrants in Our Economy

An article published this year on U.S. Security and Exchange Commissions' official website by Aguilar says that the immigrants have a critical role in the economic growth of the country. The article suggests that the small business opportunities have been growing with the rise in immigrant population in USA. He quoted the Obama's quote that the immigrants have made America stringer over two centuries. They are starting new businesses and make up 16.7% of new business owners in the country. Article mentioned that 75% of patents in USA are given to foreign-born inventors. Especially in technology industry, he says the immigrants are having higher education and participating in research.

Commissioner believes that the immigrants are improving the U.S. competitiveness. These immigrants are having twice as much PhDs that the native born Americans. These statistical figures reflect that the immigrants, like Hispanics, are not only active employees and employers but also make up major portion of the consumers. The immigrants, he says, have relatively less access to resources but they are highly motivated to increase their income that helps the national economy and supports job market. The Commissioner believes that the immigrants are not burden on economy but they support themselves through regular tax payments. He says that crowd funding is increasing among immigrants that help increasing investments. The article concludes that there is yet enough potential for immigrants to take part in economic growth of country.

How immigration is shaping the United States

The article published on Deloitte University Press points out that one of the major emphasis of the Congress is to bring immigration reforms. The country is blessed with natural resources and shows tolerance for diversity thus the immigrants have a lot of opportunity. The role of immigration in USA has history since the seventeenth century when the permanent settlements of the immigrants started. The influence of the immigrants has been increasing with every new generation. From less than 5% four decades ago to over 13% immigrant population today, the immigrants are increasing in number as well as impact on population. The foreign born U.S. citizens are found more dedicated to learn and get trained thus they are more productive in the technology industry. The ration of education was initially higher in U.S. born than the foreign born citizens of USA but the dynamics are changing now.

The article mentions that the foreign born workers were initially active only in the manual jobs but know they are becoming more qualified given their higher education and that will eventually offer exponentially enhanced competitiveness to the country. The skilled jobs are increasing the country's competitiveness much more than the productivity through manual jobs. Article proves that the immigrants are making the country smarter, stronger, younger and more productive.

Jordan, Mariam

01 September, 2010

Illegal Immigration to U.S. Slows Sharply

While the role of immigrants is increasing in the economy of USA, the illegal immigrants are considered parasites. The good news, Mariam says, is that the illegal immigration has decreased since 2007. The hundreds of thousands of immigrants are not the tax payers and they also consume the benefits. The illegal immigrants are a big issue since there were 28% illegal immigrants in 2009 out of the total immigrant population. Most of the illegal immigrants used to be the Mexicans, around 60%. The administrators say that the illegal immigrants have decreased in number both due to strict laws and the bad economic conditions.

The image of immigrants has thus improved after the financial crisis because once the country faced economic challenges and the jobs started to shed, it was realized that the immigrants were the one that were involved in self-employment and thus they supported the economy. The role of legal immigrants became clear and distinct from the role of illegal immigrants. Thus, while the illegal immigrants are discouraged both through law and enforcement, the legal immigrants are appreciated for their role in the economy of USA especially during the economic depression.

Journal

George J. Borjas

Native Internal Migration and the Labor Market Impact of Immigration

The article published in Journal of Human Resource says that the immigrants are a major and inevitable portion of population and economy of America. The analysis of influence of immigrants-to-USA shows that they are effective in joint determination of the wage structure also affects the attitude of nationals towards the market. Based on 40-year data up till 2000, article says that the rate of immigration is slowing down while the rate of out-migration is increasing. The native workforce, says the article, is not growing rather it is decreasing.

While many blame that the immigrants are responsible for the decline in jobs for the natives, the actual reason for the reduction in the jobs for natives is economic depression and the fact that these people are now as competitive as the immigrants are because the number of educated immigrants is decreasing. The impact of immigration on wages of local market is 40% to 60%. Thus the labor market is becoming more populated with the immigrants. This tells that the U.S. born nationals are less interested in manual jobs than the foreign born citizens of USA.

Adam, M. Zaretsky

1997

A Burden to America? Immigration and the Economy

The immigrants to America are far more today than they used to be at the dawn of century. But the rate of the new immigrants is slower. The new immigrants are 5% as compared to annual new immigrants of 11% in 1900. This rate depicts increase in workforce productivity as well as the diversity in the country. This workforce increases productivity and thus the prices are falling. The effect of immigrants on the GPD is between one to ten billion dollars every year. Although this is around one percent of total economy, the influence is at least positive and not negative. The local born citizens often seem to be competing with the foreign born nationals since they have same education and expertise. So, while all workers are not same, some are even more competitive than the local born citizens. The skills that the foreign born American nationals have are often unique and there is no substitute to those skills that gives an upper hand to the immigrants in playing role in the economy.

The article says that when the capacity of the immigrants is same as that of the U.S. born population, there is no rise or fall in the wages and they are paid equally. On the other hand, the no skilled labor often accept low wages thus the manual jobs are being taken away from the U.S. born people. Often that immigrants get higher wages than what they get in their native countries thus it is a big motivation for these immigrants to permanently live in USA. The foreign born U.S. citizens used to have lesser wages than local born but now the gap is decreasing and seems to eliminate in future. Besides that, the difference in education and skills is also diminishing. Thus, the older immigrants might depend on the state but the younger immigrants are not the burden on economy rather they are competitive and innovative enough to support the economy.

Sarita A. Mohanty, Steffie Woolhandler, David U. Himmelstein, Susmita Pati, Olveen Carrasquillo, and David H. Bor

Health Care Expenditures of Immigrants in the United States: A Nationally Representative Analysis

The article explored what are the expenditures of immigrants and the U.S. born citizens in the area of healthcare. The data analysis suggested that there is around $39.5 billion expenditure of immigrants accounted in health care and it is 55% less than U.S.-born persons. This can be taken as a unique perspective of understanding impact of immigrants on economy. It can be said that the immigrants are not burden on the economy with respect to healthcare since they offer same taxes but receive much less healthcare funds than the U.S. born citizens. The lower health care expenditures for immigrants conclude that the immigrants are not a financial burden health care system of the country.

The authors found that an average immigrant pays $80,000 more taxes as compared to the lifetime services they receive. Thus, they are contributing in the economy particularly the healthcare system more than they are receiving in return. While the policies are being made to limit healthcare services from access of illegal immigrants, the legal immigrants are often having, on average less services as well as opportunities. Among the immigrants, the low income families and the minorities face the burden of taxes despite not being compensated enough in response. The concept of free care is not much applicable on the new immigrants thus in starting years they have to make a lot of effort in order to stabilize and get entitled to the medical services. The illegal immigrants on the other hand cost around $2 billion to health care companies in form of medical bills. The multibillion payments directly from the immigrants and the payments by insurers on behalf of the immigrants are a direct help to the economy and U.S. healthcare system and the immigrants do not become a burden on system.

Book

Bray, I.

31 January, 2013

U.S. Immigration Made Easy

More and more literature is being compiled on the immigration to USA because the economy realized two things: first that the immigrants are supporting the economy and they created jobs during economic recession. The country is thus in need of the creative and innovative ideas of the immigrants. On the other hand the immigrants are decreasing given the difficult and complicated procedure of passports, visas, immigration etc. Thus, books like U.S. Immigration Made Easy are an effort to help the immigrants enter the country legally. The legal immigrants are support for American economy while the illegal entrants are a liability. The book offers a brief introduction of how the economy has a lot of opportunities for the immigrants and how they can improve their lifestyles and earning capacities.

The book is not the mere temptation but it helps tell the immigrants how they can be more productive since it will help themselves as well as the economy of the country. I believe that such works admit directly as well as indirectly that American immigrants are a support to country and its economy and America needs more of legal immigrants.

Research Paper

Introduction

The research on the impact of immigrants helped find out how the immigrants have historically entered USA. The immigrants are alleged to have been stealing jobs form the American born citizens. The research is conducted along the parameters to find if they are paying taxes, getting jobs at lower wages and being incompetent or if the situation is vice versa. The resources form internet, journals, books and articles suggested that the legal immigrants are different from the illegal immigrants and they are by no means a burden on the economy, a fact that became clear especially after the economic crisis of 2007-2008. Thus, the immigration needs to be understood in a deeper context on economic benefits rather superficially analyzing how the diversity will affect the social dynamics. While the social and cultural influences and considerations of immigration are a fact, the immigration cannot be discouraged because it is the motivation of immigrants that is helping public and private sector.

Summary

The journal articles, web sources, books and popular press, all in their specific manner have told that the immigrants that legally enter America and not a burden (Peri, 2010). They are not taking away the jobs but they are doing manual jobs often at lower wages. The research based and technology jobs are also becoming increasingly common among the immigrants. These immigrants where considered to be a burden in terms of not paying taxes but article Immigrants and the Economy (2002) mentioned that the tax paid by the immigrants is no less than the tax net paid by the U.S. born citizens. Bray (2012) says that the immigrants are receiving less medical services in terms of expenditure than the U.S. born individuals (Fix and Passel, 1994). The popular press negates the existing myth that immigrates are a burden. It is evident form the articles that the public opinion is also changing about the immigrants and they think that the illegal immigrants should be stopped while the legal immigrants are appreciated since they travel across the world to serve USA with their innovative ideas and with their hard work. This justifies that the immigrants are favoring the state and they should be offered more services and the state should spend on them given their participation in the economy. On the other hand, all the sources unanimously agreed that the illegal immigrants are a burden on the economy since they do not pay taxes and rather consume benefits (Borjas, 2006). The questioning style of articles about immigrants suggest that even before the research they doubt that the immigrants are a burden and the concluding points suggest that they are not (Zaretsky, 1997). From the private employers to the officials like the Commissioners in SEC admit that the immigrants have made the country stronger. The baby boomers are dying and the population is injected with young immigrants making America a younger generation. Aguilar (2013) mentioned that not only the participation in manual jobs but also the education has increased among the immigrant making them equally competent. The country is thus at a point where it understands the role of immigrants, including Obama administration but the question is whether the administration will do something to attract the immigrants that are decreasing annually because they are feared by legal actions and the economic situation in the country.

The illegal immigrants cause couple of billion dollars loss in terms of write offs in health care sector that eventually becomes economic loss (Bray, 2013). The book is a guide to those that want to enter USA seeking better work opportunities but are haunted by the legal and procedural requirements. Besides appreciation of the participation of immigrants in U.S. economy and their role in job creation, the researchers say that the immigration in USA by legal means is decreasing after 2007 economic depression. The state is thus making arrangements to make it easier and secure for immigrants to enter country and paly an effective and positive role. The book, on the other hand, does not actually makes it easier but tells the immigrants how simple it is enter USA by legal means and is an effort to support and promote the state level efforts that are design specially for the immigrants.