Has immigration strengthened or weakened the U.S. Economy?
Immigration has been a burning issue in the United States since the first wave of immigrants in the 1800s. Anti-immigrant sentiments rose in response to the new comers in the country. Americans accused immigrants of causing crime, taking jobs, and draining the nation’s economy. Recently, there was a resurgence of anti-immigration attitudes in the United States. In the 2016 Presidential election, immigration was the focal point in Donald Trump’s campaign. Trump asserted that America would be “great” again once illegal immigrants were expelled and immigration intake was capped altogether in the United States. Donald Trump’s assumption that removing immigrants from the U.S. would help …show more content…
Herman Schwartz pointed out that the immigrant workforce in the United States is heavily distributed in blue collar jobs; for example, jobs surrounding the agricultural, construction, and mechanical industry. Schwartz asserted immigrants usually fill jobs in these industries because American laborers do not want and/or apply for those types of jobs (Schwartz). To illustrate, Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, an immigration expert at the University of California, emphasizes the need for immigrant labor force in the article “Immigrants and the Economy.” Ojeda found that nearly 69 percent of all hired agricultural workers were immigrants (Maynard). Similarly, immigrants are crucial in sectors with labor shortages. Blue collar jobs usually experience heavy shortages in labor. Mainly farmers and construction businesses need to fill jobs, but important STEM jobs are beginning to see shortages as well. Immigrants, both legal and illegal, fill these job shortages (Immigrants and the Economy). Immigrants fill these jobs and keep companies from collapsing while spurring economic growth. On that same note, Avianne Tan concluded that even if all Americans applied for the job shortages in America, there would still be large number of unfilled jobs (Tan). It is a common belief that, as immigrants fill jobs, they cause competition for Americans. In actuality, immigrants only compete with other immigrants because they have low-skill levels and can only take low level jobs. Instead of creating competition by filling jobs, immigrants compliment higher level jobs in the economy for Americans (Eastman). Overall, the evidence supports the idea that immigrants are helping the economy by filling jobs to keep businesses from closing their
Immigration has been a burning issue in the United States since the first wave of immigrants in the 1800s. Anti-immigrant sentiments rose in response to the new comers in the country. Americans accused immigrants of causing crime, taking jobs, and draining the nation’s economy. Recently, there was a resurgence of anti-immigration attitudes in the United States. In the 2016 Presidential election, immigration was the focal point in Donald Trump’s campaign. Trump asserted that America would be “great” again once illegal immigrants were expelled and immigration intake was capped altogether in the United States. Donald Trump’s assumption that removing immigrants from the U.S. would help …show more content…
Herman Schwartz pointed out that the immigrant workforce in the United States is heavily distributed in blue collar jobs; for example, jobs surrounding the agricultural, construction, and mechanical industry. Schwartz asserted immigrants usually fill jobs in these industries because American laborers do not want and/or apply for those types of jobs (Schwartz). To illustrate, Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, an immigration expert at the University of California, emphasizes the need for immigrant labor force in the article “Immigrants and the Economy.” Ojeda found that nearly 69 percent of all hired agricultural workers were immigrants (Maynard). Similarly, immigrants are crucial in sectors with labor shortages. Blue collar jobs usually experience heavy shortages in labor. Mainly farmers and construction businesses need to fill jobs, but important STEM jobs are beginning to see shortages as well. Immigrants, both legal and illegal, fill these job shortages (Immigrants and the Economy). Immigrants fill these jobs and keep companies from collapsing while spurring economic growth. On that same note, Avianne Tan concluded that even if all Americans applied for the job shortages in America, there would still be large number of unfilled jobs (Tan). It is a common belief that, as immigrants fill jobs, they cause competition for Americans. In actuality, immigrants only compete with other immigrants because they have low-skill levels and can only take low level jobs. Instead of creating competition by filling jobs, immigrants compliment higher level jobs in the economy for Americans (Eastman). Overall, the evidence supports the idea that immigrants are helping the economy by filling jobs to keep businesses from closing their