Immigration and Issues of Economic Development

Subject: Sociology
Pages: 3
Words: 828
Reading time:
3 min
Study level: College

Introduction

Immigration is becoming an issue of concern to the world as there are increased migrations into various countries, including the United States and Europe countries. Immigration, thus, is defined as both the legal and illegal movement of people from one’s country to a destination country where they have no documented citizens. However, commuters and tourists are not considered immigrants because they only have a specified time limit which hardly goes beyond one year. Many immigrants have different reasons for moving from their countries to other places, including the search for better living and jobs and security, among other reasons known to them. In my opinion, immigrants come along with more benefits to a country than the burden that they cause. Therefore, this paper outlines the mixed reactions held by many governments that, in the latest past, have been experiencing a large volume of immigrants as their economic developments are concerned.

Immigration

One reason why immigration should be encouraged in most parts of the world is that it fuels the economy. According to Verkuyten (2018), both skilled and unskilled immigrants enhance the growth of the economy of the respective destination countries. This is explained by Verkuyten (2018) that immigrants, especially the skilled ones, come along with ideas and knowledge that increase productivity. As a result, the GDP rises, leading to a high per capita income. Moreover, immigrants boost the labor force and provide cheap labor in the most extensive industries. The process enhances productivity, which has a positive impact on the economy. As in most cases, many immigrants search for jobs and better life living standards. Therefore, immigrants are more likely to accept lower-paid jobs than natives. Thus, in the long run, the destination countries enjoy immigrants’ cheap labor while at the same time building their economies. As such, immigrants significantly help develop the economy compared to the anticipated harm that includes job competition with the natives.

Immigrants are potential future entrepreneurs that destination countries can depend on. According to Nardini (2018), immigrants usually come into a country empty-handed; as such, most have the incentive to make wealth to cater to life demands in their new home/environment. Moreover, it can as well be concluded that immigrants are the most ambitious people who are risk-takers and, as a result, tend to influence the destination country’s workforce. Furthermore, Nardini (2018) claimed that young and mobile immigrants are most likely to be energetic entrepreneurs who can read and set up innovative businesses that create job opportunities for their native citizens. The United State is such an economy that has been built with the help of many potential immigrants who lands in the country, leading to improved living standards and a wide variety of goods and services. Nardini (2018) identifies companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple in the United States as immigrant-founded companies. Therefore, immigrants’ destination countries benefit significantly from foreign people.

However, immigration could also be seen as a challenge as the security and job competition is concerned. As aforementioned, immigrants are contented with low-paid jobs, resulting in a negative impact as wages are concerned. According to Maxwell (2019), an increased number of low-skilled immigrants in a country exert downward pressure on wages. This is because unskilled immigrants give the company owners and management to fill the job vacancies with cheap and readily available labor, thereby affecting the standard wage rates. Moreover, massive migration also influences housing costs. When migrants move to areas and locations with inadequate housing, the demand for the house goes high, and eventually, their rates will also be hiked, resulting in low living standards.

Another problem that arises due to immigration is the pressure on public services. Immigration leads to overpopulation and thus puts much pressure on the limited social amenities, including hospitals, schools, roads, and public transport. This is true because there is an increase in population while the number of social amenities remains constant. For example, the pro-Brexit vote was higher in Lincolnshire and Dover, the areas that are considered to have had a high influx of immigrants in the recent past (Maxwell, 2019). Therefore, unplanned and uncontrolled immigration leads to poor living conditions since the population overpowers the necessary life essentials like school and hospitals, among other social amenities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, immigration is an issue that is currently being received with mixed reactions worldwide. Some countries believe that immigration is a good thing and should be encouraged, while other countries reverse this idea citing some negative impacts of immigration. In this paper, the benefits of immigration that have been identified include economic building, sources of entrepreneurship, and labor boost. On the other hand, the immigrants’ costs discussed included a purge on wages, increased house rates, and job competition among the immigrants and their native fellow citizens. Therefore, immigration to some countries is considered beneficial, passing laws to welcome many immigrants. However, many countries also regard immigrants as a threat and are urging their governments to pass laws prohibiting immigrants from entering their countries.

References

Maxwell, R. (2019). Cosmopolitan immigration attitudes in large European cities: Contextual or compositional effects?. American Political Science Review, 113(2), 456-474. Web.

Nardini, A. (2018). Trump and U.S. immigration policies. Lessons from the Eisenhower administration. Economics, Law and Policy, 1(1), 105. Web.

Verkuyten, M. (2018). The benefits of studying immigration for social psychology. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(3), 225-239. Web.