U.S. Immigration Policy: 44.7 Million and Counting - Essay Sample

Introduction

The immigration policy of the United States is very controversial. The migration policy is geared on security concerns, humanitarian responsibilities, and economic impacts. The U.S. is widely famous for hosting the most significant number of immigrants, and often referred to as the home for immigrants. In 2018, the United States recorded a total of 44.7 million immigrants, which is way too high compared to other countries. The number projects to 611 million, when the American-born children are immigrants, which makes 13.7% of the U.S. population (Boccia 4). As compared to other nations, the United States allows all immigrants, including refugees and others who are undocumented. People often focus on the wage reduction and unemployment. In economics, wage parity is not affected by immigration. Research suggests that immigration has only positive impacts on economic growth and development. The higher the number of immigrants, the higher the GDP growth. In this regard, I firmly believe that immigration is essential for the economy. In this essay, I seek to examine the positive impacts of immigration on the economics of the U.S.

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Immigration increases labor supply, which triggers an increase in productivity and investments to maintain the capital per labor (Edo 922). Increasing investments also prevent wage reduction. Immigrants are often imperfect and cannot substitute an American born worker in the labor markets. In this case, immigrants and Native Americans do not compete for the same job position; neither do they affect the minimal wage. The new immigrants pose a threat of wage reduction to the earlier immigrants from a surge in immigration.

On the contrary, immigration is argued to have influenced the minimum wage increase for the native-born workers. The fiscal situation of the U.S. is also influenced by immigration (925). Immigration increases the United States; a lot of income is likely to come from more tax payments. The increase of labor supply in the United States is expected to boost the expenditure since they spend their wages on services and products, which is likely to expand the economic horizons.

In many cases, the immigrants' situation articulates their likelihood of complementing the native-born workers rather than posing a competitive threat. Uneducated immigrants have numerous shortcomings, such as a language barrier, and may lose many job opportunities. Without skills, many immigrants are forced to stick to manual labor in the construction and agriculture departments. Even the low skill American workers should not argue about increased communication from immigrants. Most of these workers have a communication advantage to most immigrants, which encourages them to prefer jobs within the communication skills such as customer services, and salesperson (Mayda 41).

On the contrary, the communication barrier hinders the educated immigrants from landing a job in their professions. Most are in the scientific and technical fields. When the immigrants are working, there is a high likelihood of wage per capita increase. Consequently, immigration increases the labor supply and hence contributes to boosting the economy of the United States.

A second factor showing a positive outcome of immigration on the economy is productivity. Immigrants increase the tendency of ingenuity and talents, accounting for innovation from the workers. Indeed, immigration leads to the production of patents twice the output of the Native Americans, whose presence leads to positive spillovers on the Native's license. Economic conceptualizes that there exists a direct relationship between a skilled and innovative workforce with GDP growth. Over the last decade, more than 75% of the U.S.'s growth and development has been influenced by research and development, as well as innovation from the skilled and educated labor force. In this case, immigration increases the U.S. population, which is likely to improve the skilled labor supply (Mayda 47).

Nevertheless, the United States is experiencing rapid growth in productivity due to the efficient and effective allocation of labor based on skills and qualifications. Once the workforce is increased, the business industry is likely to experience growth in productivity. An increase in productivity facilitates the growth and expansion of a business, which has a high likelihood of promoting the economy.

Immigration also impacts the fiscal conditions of the United States. Immigrants contribute positively to the net federal budget. Financial situations vary at the state level and are based on the characteristics of the immigrant population, such as age, skill level, and education level. For instance, working-age immigrants have severe threats and impacts on social security and medical costs. All immigrants pay taxes, which reduces the federal tax rates for native-born Americans (Dustmann 41).

In most cases, most immigrants are uneducated; hence their wages are always below a native worker's salary. As a result, immigrants pay less federal taxes and are entitled to full programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, and other benefits at slightly lower rates. Fiscal impact in the U.S. is dependent on the income, education, and socioeconomic status of the immigrant population. However, immigration can impose a higher tax burden on the Natives, which only impacts the short-term budget. Because of economic growth, the U.S.'s fiscal conditions are likely to promote the nation's economic growth.

The deep income inequality in the U.S. was also an attribute of the policies implemented before and during the reform. Firstly, the shift to massive industrialization suppressed the agricultural sector upon which many people in the rural areas were dependent. It created a large income gap between the people living in urban areas and their counterparts in rural areas. The reform period led to the development of a set of urban-biased fiscal and monetary policies, further widening the gap between the two groups (Dustmann 51). Secondly, a defective sectorial and local improvement approach has made wage difference ascend among U.S. provinces. Thirdly, the family unit enrollment framework that points of confinement work portability has accentuated the impacts of both the sectoral and local policies on spatial wage discrepancy.

Conclusion

In summary, the essay has examined the positive outcomes of immigration on the United States economy. Among these impacts include the fiscal impact, labor market supply, and productivity. The implications have a share in the development of the economy. As mentioned earlier, immigration promotes the economy. In this case, having the largest immigrant population globally, the United States' economy is likely to grow and project. Setting up a standardized savings framework for the possibly defenseless populace in urban and provincial regions is another arrangement of alternative meriting consideration. Since the U.S. set up and enhanced its communist market economy framework in the mid-1980s, it has changed the government disability framework honed under the arranged economy. Population growth results in a deficit in the budget, reducing the government's ability to sustain humanitarian needs.

Works Cited

Boccia, Romina, et al. "Blueprint for Balance: A Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2018." The Heritage Foundation, March 28 (2017).

Dustmann, Christian, Uta Schönberg, and Jan Stuhler. "The impact of immigration: Why do studies reach such different results?." Journal of Economic Perspectives 30.4 (2016): 31-56.

Edo, Anthony. "The impact of immigration on the labor market." Journal of Economic Surveys 33.3 (2019): 922-948.

Mayda, Anna Maria, Giovanni Peri, and Walter Steingress. The political impact of immigration: Evidence from the United States. No. w24510. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018.

Tinajero, Michelle. "The Economic Impact of Immigration on the American Workforce." Pub. Int. L. Rep. 23 (2017): 59.