A common argument that is used both in favor and against immigration is the economic impact of immigration. Through research I have found that while it is near impossible to definitively state whether immigrants in large quantities are helpful or harmful the united states economy, their effect in either direction does not have a substantial impact in most aspects of the economy. While there are significant differences in first generation immigrants and native residents their overall impact does not have significant effect on the average American.
Arguably the most important is on population. Immigration in recent years has reached levels of the early 1900's except now most immigrants are from Asia and Latin america instead of Europe. According a US census survey, growth in american prime working age individuals is mostly contributed by immigrants having a ~ 2% growth in prime age immigrants with native citizens losing prime age population at ~ -0.5% growth. I was unable to find specific statistics on population and its effect on the economy. However, experts working on the Hamilton Project state that in the modern economy the growth is needed, but this could change in the near future. Another concern involving growth in popular media is that of illegal immigration. The US census estimates that as of 2017 approximately a quarter of all immigrants in the united states are undocumented. This is not a new occurrence with 75% of all undocumented immigrants are believed to have lived in the united states for 10 years. While it can be assumed that many of those who have lived in the US for 10 years have joined the workforce it is difficult to determine their impact on the economy. The best information I could find was from the Congressional Budget Office which estimated that illegal immigrants do have a slight positive effect on the annual GDP.
A major concern in the united states is the impact on wages of native residents especially in service jobs. There is evidence that the influx of immigrants in recent years has decreased wages for some occupations. However, these estimates are not significant with the greatest decreases being below a 2% change in wages for the occupations with the greatest change. Not only do immigrants not
decrease wages there is little evidence that they have a lasting effect on job availability. First generation immigrants differ greatly in education and occupation from native born Americans as shown on the graphs from The Hamilton Project. By second generation immigrants are almost indistinguishable from native born Americans. this continues to show that the impact of the immigrants does not have a significant effect on the economy.
After what I have seen through my research I reached the conclusion that immigration does not have a significant effect on the modern economy. Whether this continues to be true in an evolving economy is difficult to know for certain. Evidence suggest that immigrants and native born Americans do not have a significant difference in behavior and do not have a significant difference in their impact on the economy.
Brookings economic research on Immigration
A Dozen Economic Facts On Immigration (The Hamilton Project)
Arguably the most important is on population. Immigration in recent years has reached levels of the early 1900's except now most immigrants are from Asia and Latin america instead of Europe. According a US census survey, growth in american prime working age individuals is mostly contributed by immigrants having a ~ 2% growth in prime age immigrants with native citizens losing prime age population at ~ -0.5% growth. I was unable to find specific statistics on population and its effect on the economy. However, experts working on the Hamilton Project state that in the modern economy the growth is needed, but this could change in the near future. Another concern involving growth in popular media is that of illegal immigration. The US census estimates that as of 2017 approximately a quarter of all immigrants in the united states are undocumented. This is not a new occurrence with 75% of all undocumented immigrants are believed to have lived in the united states for 10 years. While it can be assumed that many of those who have lived in the US for 10 years have joined the workforce it is difficult to determine their impact on the economy. The best information I could find was from the Congressional Budget Office which estimated that illegal immigrants do have a slight positive effect on the annual GDP.
A major concern in the united states is the impact on wages of native residents especially in service jobs. There is evidence that the influx of immigrants in recent years has decreased wages for some occupations. However, these estimates are not significant with the greatest decreases being below a 2% change in wages for the occupations with the greatest change. Not only do immigrants not
decrease wages there is little evidence that they have a lasting effect on job availability. First generation immigrants differ greatly in education and occupation from native born Americans as shown on the graphs from The Hamilton Project. By second generation immigrants are almost indistinguishable from native born Americans. this continues to show that the impact of the immigrants does not have a significant effect on the economy.
After what I have seen through my research I reached the conclusion that immigration does not have a significant effect on the modern economy. Whether this continues to be true in an evolving economy is difficult to know for certain. Evidence suggest that immigrants and native born Americans do not have a significant difference in behavior and do not have a significant difference in their impact on the economy.
Brookings economic research on Immigration
A Dozen Economic Facts On Immigration (The Hamilton Project)
Good blog post. It was nice to read and interesting to see how you combined research statistics within your writing. Although you only have 2 pictures I think that it closely relates to what you are writing about and helps provide a visual representation for the statistics you presented. You showed a lot of information at once at times but you did a good job explaining it and connecting it to your topic.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you decided to pursue this research question. You've illustrated the significance of what we DON'T find, in the way of evidence, as well as what we do find. I'm impressed with your work.
ReplyDeleteTo highlight the quality of your work and eliminate distracting errors, correct capitalization (United States, America) and add a hyphen when using the phrase "native-born." Or, consider just saying "Americans" as the points you make would include naturalized citizens as well. I'm only seeing two sources and two images. Please let me know if you have more sources.
Thanks!
Interesting blog post researching the effect of immigration on the economy if there even is an effect. The transparency of the article keeps the bias of the research to a minimum and the two images within the blog added more information about the topic.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion one of the more crucial topics to discuss when talking about immigration, and I think you had a very good post. You covered many different areas of where there's controversy on how immigrants effect us, and I think you handled it very well.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting topic to read and learn about. The papers very well written and very descriptive. The graphs gave the essay a better understanding with a visual for the reader. I think you may want to include more sources.
ReplyDelete