Immigration is one of the most controversial topics that is debated by experts from distinct fields of education such as economics, politics, and sociology. Yet, they cannot reach a consensus for several reasons. Although experts' distinct approaches to this notion from different perspectives due to their academic backgrounds play a crucial role in this non-resolving debate, their opinions are also shaped by their personal experiences, biases, or political views. At this point, the impact of immigrants on the economy of the country that they are migrating to exemplifies such a discussion that is often manipulated by politicians and economists for populist reasons. However, the opposite might also be valid. The economic benefits of migrants can be overrated under the influence of some political purposes. Consequently, to comprehend the actual association between migration and economics, migrants' motivations and their economic activities in the host land should be analyzed.
In the post-modern world, it is observed that the West dominates most manufacturing industries, stock markets, and investment sectors. While they seek a new labor force to maintain their productive industrial constructions, they also appeal to individuals who try to earn the “employed” label. Therefore, people living under unfair and dangerous circumstances, in general, tend to move to the Western world. Even though it is practical in writing, in real, the decision process to leave your homeland is quite arduous and, in many ways, avoidable. However, the number of immigrants has been increasing drastically, and currently, some 184 million people live outside of their country of nationality, constituting about 2.3 percent of the global population (International Organization for Migration, 2022). Among them, some 184 million, most of them prefer to migrate to developed countries. For instance, about 30 percent of Australia’s population has migrated from another country, and two-thirds of these immigrants are now citizens. (World Development Report, pg.160, vol: 2023) The grounds for this tremendous immigration flow can follow as scarcity, unemployment, war, or other factors that turn countries into unsurvivable open-air zones. On the other hand, in contrast to what is usually reflected by the media and politicians, people who migrate from developed countries with high life standards might represent the educational, social, or other personal reasons that urge citizens to leave their country. About 3 percent of EU citizens live in an EU country other than their own, and the proportion is higher among younger and more educated citizens. (EU-LFS (European Union Labour Force Survey) (database), Eurostat, European Commission, Luxembourg, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained /index.php/EU_labour_force survey.) Naturally, when intellectual and educated immigrants enter the country, they contribute especially to the productivity and the country's brain force. But, even in this case, developed countries still crave work labor that they cannot supply through technology. In the issue of this labor shortage, immigrants function as key to the resolution of the need for skilled and eager workers.
The countries that are in the position of a host in the immigration equation establish detailed district requirements and regulations for the migrants they allow to reside in the country permanently or temporarily. Only in the United States, as many as 185 various categories of visas are available for potential migrants. However, it is widely known that such governments are diligent in terms of bureaucracy, which means that 185 variations of visas do not mean a wide range of options to live in the United States. Despite the deliberate process of elimination, according to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS), the total foreign-born or immigrant population (legal and illegal) was 49.5 million in October 2023, 15 percent of the US population. (https://cis.org/Report/October-2023-ForeignBorn-Share-Was-Highest-History By Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler on November 30, 2023) The high proportion of immigrants relative to the population demonstrates that immigration is currently more significant than ever in favor of their economic bringing and benefits. Furthermore, it is evident that developed countries like, as in the preceding example, the United States profit from both physical and mental facilities in several branches. While 28 percent of immigrants are employed in the construction sector, 23 percent of migrants work in industries such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting with 23 percent. Overall, 18 percent of the workforce in the United States economy consists of immigrants. In proportion, the employment rate of immigrants was at its peak at about 15,3 percent right before the COVID-19 period. Although this value decreased rapidly during the pandemic, it recovered even more quickly than the employment rate of Americans after this period. Thus, it can be inferred that the immigrants contributed to the recovery of the American economy by returning to the labor force swiftly and constantly producing even after rapid recessions.
Another integral part of the US economy that is positively affected by the immigrants and their labor force is the productivity of native workers. These kinds of indirect or intertwined relationships between the migrant workers and the local workers resemble lurking variables. They tend to be overlooked in research or surveys when, in fact, they blatantly affect the performance of American workers and, hence, their wages. To identify how these two elements are associated, it would be logical to distinguish the differences between migrant and native workers. Their first and most distinctive feature is their flexibility and tendency to compromise. When the motivation, which is building a life in a foreign country by beginning from zero, behind the immigrants is considered, it is accurate to assume that they would be more willing to commute long distances, change their dwellings, and work under stricter circumstances than native workers. Their tolerance against these conditions enables employers to optimize efficiency in production by supplying the labor that is not likely to be achieved with native workers due to its remoteness or disadvantages with immigrants. Therefore, when the outputs produced by workers are at maximum because of the effective allocation of resources and, most importantly, labor, the productivity and sufficiency of the production are enhanced. According to a 2015 report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), since immigrants have a propensity to adjust work requirements, such as altering location, they can rapidly close labor shortages caused by lack of native workers, driving the production from an inefficient level, due to the labor shortage, to high levels. (National Academy of Sciences Panel on the Integration of Immigrants into American Society, The Integration of Immigrants into American Society, National Academies Press, 2015, p. 266) As previously mentioned with examples and statistics, immigrants offer plausible solutions to economic issues experienced in the host country while accelerating its recovery from the economic crisis and refining its economic fertility.
Immigration, besides its numerous positive aspects, might influence social and economic issues related to a steep increase in the population at some level. Because a larger share of the population requires more comprehensive demographic investments and can potentially lead to a decreasing per capita income, several economic problems may arise. In addition, the probable proliferation of environmental pollution based on carbon footprint can be driven by the excessive use of limited natural resources. Nonetheless, it should be kept in mind that such issues are experienced mostly because of uncontrolled increasing birth rates and in undeveloped or developing countries, which generally are the countries that give immigrants. On the other hand, in the case of developed countries like the United States, which ranks 24th in environmental pollution, it is evident that pollution of natural resources, especially air, and water, is caused by industrial production and, hence, the capital used during this production process. The United States reserves significant amounts of money to combat climate change while financing its budget. For instance, this planned budget has $16,5 billion to reinforce sustainable energy innovation to resolve environmental pollution. Even if assumed that an exceeding influx of immigrants generated natural pollution, the fact that the U.S. government spends nearly $25 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) showcases that the States prioritizes migration issues and already spends significantly more amount of money for immigration than climate issues; thus, the inflow of immigrants to the United States is strictly controlled and it is not feasible that a dramatic number of people migrate to America simultaneously, depleting natural resources and leveling up the U.S. to the first place in carbon emission.
Immigrants are known to be influential factors in a country’s economy since they intertwine with fundamental parts of a country, like employment, wages, and production. Besides specialists who analyze this theme in the means of society with sociology origins, many economists have researched for decades to determine the relationship between migration and the previously mentioned elements. Most of these findings were urging economists to indicate that immigrants enhance productivity and recover from recessions swiftly. Yet, the most debated argument for immigration has been whether it reduces wages or not. This assumption may be valid only in rare cases when native workers and immigrants are substitutes, and it may be justified that this relationship lowers wages. However, most times, it is not probable because immigrants are inclined to accept work in lower-skilled jobs at first, subsequently because of their inexperience in the host country and its conditions. Therefore, immigrants do not rival local employees, for they do not replace the native workers but heal their workplace circumstances by enhancing productivity and offering a sufficient labor force. When the big picture is insightfully analyzed, as opposed to what is being launched in the media by politicians, the substantial benefits of immigrants to the economy, in the matter of productivity and supplement of the labor force, can be perceived. Consequently, the key to the solution of the migration discussion in economics is to approach this topic unbiasedly and empirically.
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