2.3 - Immigration

The Statue of Liberty: a symbol for immigration, freedom, and a new life in the US

Border Patrol Agents patrolling the US-Mexico border

Immigrants climbing over the border along the US-Mexico border

     Immigration affects the U.S. economy both positively and negatively, but I believe that under reasonable circumstances it is economically beneficial to our nation overall. There are valid arguments to both sides of the debate over whether immigrants contribute well to our economy or are detrimental, and whether they are taking jobs away from native U.S. citizens. I explored and researched this dilemma, and came to the conclusion that within certain boundaries, immigration can and does help the U.S. economy.

     One argument that kept coming up in my research was the idea that immigrants, both legal and illegal, work many of the low-wage, labor-intensive jobs that many Americans supposedly do not want to do. For example, menial jobs like gutting fish, field farming, and other manufacturing and agricultural duties. However, A study on the Center for Immigration Studies website showed that out of 474 civilian occupations, only 6 had immigrants as the majority of their workers, and even then, U.S. natives still made up 46% of the workers in those fields. Furthermore, none of the occupations contained a majority of illegal immigrants, and only 24 were comprised of greater than 15% illegal immigrants. This study showed that native U.S. citizens are willing to (and do) enlist in these professions, even though there is higher unemployment by natives in these jobs with higher percentages of immigrants. That is why some people believe that immigrants are taking away jobs from natives, since there is proof that many natives do in fact work those low-paying, laborious jobs that many people associate with immigrants. However, I do believe it is true that many other Americans do not want to work these jobs and would instead rather be unemployed, which is where immigration comes in. In order to fill out the labor force in these difficult fields, immigration is helpful as it can supplement any unfilled positions that are left open by native U.S. citizens. Another solution that could be used in tandem with, or separately, might include improving the benefits of working these labor-intensive jobs. This might include, increasing wages, improving working conditions, and changing recruitment practices, anything to raise incentive for U.S. natives to take these jobs and help the economy.

     Another argument that explained why immigration was beneficial was the idea that immigrants filling the menial strenuous jobs in the workforce, allows for native-born U.S. citizens to move up in the economy and job market and attain higher positions. This is especially true when immigrants come into America who don't speak English very well, as it gives U.S. natives the advantage of working in fields that require a stronger knowledge of the English language, like supervisory or sales positions. This allows lower-skill native workers to receive more and better opportunities than they would have been able to. Some might try to argue that a number of immigrants are highly-skilled and might take the positions of well-educated, skilled native workers, but this usually isn't the case as these skilled immigrant workers are usually very specialized and are able to contribute to the skill diversity in the workforce and bring new ideas as opposed to superseding current natives' positions.

     Yet another idea that is thrown around is centered around the fact that the U.S. population is collectively getting older, and there are not as many people in the younger generations due to a number of reasons including low fertility. These people say that because of this predicament, immigration is necessary in order to keep filling the job market and in order to support the aging population who can't work anymore. Not only would these immigrants potentially help support the native population, but they would also, through consumerism, boost the economy and create growth and even more job opportunities.

     Finally, there has not been an increase in the amount of immigrants in recent years and many might believe, but rather a slight decrease. There has been a decline in the number of total and new unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., and these numbers have been in decline ever since they peaked around 2007. In addition, according to the Pew Research Center, the number of unauthorized immigrants who have resided in the U.S. for a long time (10 years or more) has increased from 41% in 2007 to 66% in 2016, and the number of those who have immigrated relatively recently has decreased from 30% to 18%. This means that there are less immigrants coming illegally into the U.S. now than there have been in the past, and hopefully that the ones that have been here for over 10 or 15 years are contributing well to the economy. This decrease in immigration will most likely leave a more reasonable number of immigrants taking jobs in the U.S., helping to boost the economy while at the same time leaving enough job opportunities for native citizens to fill and be employed, and keep the economy thriving and the unemployment low.



Sources:

Brookings: Do immigrants "steal" jobs from American workers? This source is where I found information talking about how immigrants often take jobs with intensive labor that many native U.S. citizens don't want. It also gave statistics and pie charts that showed the education levels of immigrants and U.S. citizens, among other facts.
Center for Immigration Studies: There Are No Jobs Americans Won't Do This source is where I found information discussing how native U.S. citizens are, in fact, willing to do the laborious jobs of the workforce, and how they make up the majority in almost every profession. It also gave percentages and statistics about which specific occupations were made up of how many natives, legal immigrants, and illegal immigrants.
Pew Research Center: 5 facts about illegal immigration in the U.S. This source is where I found information about how immigration has been in decline in recent years, as well as the statistics that show where and how it has decreased.
National Public Radio: Immigration's Impact On U.S. Jobs This source is where I found general information on how immigration was actually beneficial to the economy and the U.S. natives that are working. It gave several examples of how immigrants create economic progress and therefore help natives advance in the workforce.
Migration Policy Institute: Report Finds Illegal Immigration Has Negligible Impact on U.S. Economy Despite Benefit to Employers, Unauthorized Workers This source is where I found a more general overview on how immigration affects the economy and native-born U.S. citizens, both the positive and negative aspects.