Macroeconomics Term Paper

Is Illegal Immigration Beneficial to the U.S. Economy?
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Intermediate Macroeconomics

Legal immigrants have been welcomed to the United States for centuries, for the United States was founded as a nation of immigrants. Although, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the number and countries of origin for illegal immigrants coming to America from Mexico (majority) has raised a much higher concern for our national security and the safety of our citizens. The question that is currently being debated in Congress is how to gain better control of U.S. borders, and stop the flow of illegal immigrants. There are basically two sides of the debate: those favoring closed borders and absolute control of all immigration as more important than the economy; and those favoring controlled access, but more open borders to allow foreign workers into the U.S. economy to provide for a perceived labor shortages.
Immigrants actually contribute to our economy as workers, taxpayers, entrepreneurs and consumers. Undocumented immigrants account for 5 percent of the total U.S. labor force (New York Times), and at least a quarter of the workers in industries like construction, agriculture, grounds keeping, meat processing, textile production, and the list could go on. Lawmakers need to revamp our immigration system so that it works with our economy, not against it. These positions are being held and kept, in which the majority of American citizens will not do. Immigrants keep these positions, thus contributing to our economy productions, increasing import goods, as well as export goods. They fill positions in the majority of our countries agriculture. Immigrants work long hours, at very low hourly rates. Most Americans refuse to work in such conditions or if so, they are not employed for long. Furthermore, the job market is not the only area immigrants can affect the U.S. economy; they can also have significant impact on the housing market. If immigrants were taken away, both the production and selling of houses would decrease significantly. Consequently, removing immigrants from the United States would not only pose a problem to the production of goods and the job force, it would also put the housing market at an even higher risk than it currently is facing.
Just rumors of new immigration laws that might soon be coming into effect, are already showing drastic scare in immigrants which has caused them to flee, job lost, and desperately in need to be filled. So where are all our unemployed Americans? Not willing to do the work of immigrants, so it seems. In a recent article from The New York Times states, “Undocumented immigrants make up about 4.2 percent of Alabama’s work force, or 95,000 people in a state of 4.8 million. For all of the talk about clearing the way for unemployed Americans, there is no evidence that Alabamians in any significant numbers are rushing to fill the gap left by missing farm laborers and other low-wage immigrant workers” (New York Times). One of the most successful states in the United States is Texas. Texas is closest to the Mexico Border and the easiest for immigrants to migrate from. This is just an example of how and why immigrants help the economic flow. In an article by Scott Cohn of CNBC he writes regarding how Texas has taken the top spot in the nation as the #1 Winner in Business across the board. Categories that Texas was measured by included, but were no limited to: work force, economy, and cost of living, which set them apart from the other states. “Texas powers past the tough times on the strength of its economy—top-ranked in our Economy category four years in a row. The Texas economy is the 15th largest in the world, according to government figures; larger, for example, than all the Scandinavian nations combined,” (Cohn, CNBC). Immigrants have a lot to do with these numbers and figures. The plain fact that immigrants have contributed in recent years with the economic growth the Texas has endured are because, “in the last five years approximately 3 1/2 million immigrants (both legal and otherwise) have come to call our grand place ‘home’ - and that figure represents nearly 15% of the total population of our state,” (DavidBreston.com). Texas work force population is made up of 15% of illegal immigrants. That illustrates how immigrants benefit this state as well as its economy. Obviously immigrants have not only had a positive effect in Texas, but for the United States as well. In the 90s the productivity growth increase drastically in the work force, “because the United States changed its policies that encouraged the employment of low-skilled labor, and indeed immigration increased steadily throughout the 1990s,“ (Gordon, 416). The main focal point is that immigrants will do and can do jobs that many American will not do, even though times are hard in today’s economy. Immigrants are willing to step in for lower wages and worst conditions, at the end just to put food on the table. It is unfortunate that some American are feeling the impact in today society, contributing to the impact of the unemployment rate. “The higher the overall unemployment rate, the harder it is for each individual who wants a job to find work,” (Gordon, 1)
When we look at the big picture, our current immigration system is broken, causing such a popular debate in America today. It is true that immigrants help our economy, but we as American citizens need to figure out what can be done about this. It fuels an underground economy that forces workers into low-wage jobs and often poor abusive conditions, why many Americans will not do these jobs. It drags down wage and benefit standards that many citizens fight to establish and maintain, and it jeopardizes economic security for millions of workers who are already struggling to make ends meet as is. It is obvious that something needs to be done to fix this system, it is important that lawmakers need to reform our immigration system and align it with our country’s economic needs and stick with humanitarian values.
It is undeniable that currently our country faces many challenges and difficulties. Many Mexican immigrant families use at least one welfare program. It is not a question of idleness; it is just that the average high school dropout cannot support a family in a modern society like in the U.S. without government assistance, no matter how many jobs he or she has. The second problem is that it reduces the wages of low-skilled Americans. As we flood the market for entry-level jobseekers, they lose the ability to demand higher salaries. As we keep wages lower, illegal immigration takes away much of the incentive to invest in labor-saving technologies that make workers more productive, thus slowing the innovation that is needed for continued economic vitality and competitiveness. On the other side, the contributions of undocumented immigrants could be a greater advantage if they were able to earn legal status. Workers who are not part of an underground economy and do not live in fear of deportation are better able to acquire new job skills and move up the career ladder. That translates into higher wages, more money paid in taxes, and more money to spend.
At a time when a “baby boomer” decrease is predictable in the workforce, economists are expecting a demand in creating millions of new jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 56 million new jobs will be created in this country between 2002 and 2012. During this same period, more than 75 million Americans will retire, and declining native-born fertility rates will be approaching replacement level. Various interests consider new immigrants a necessary labor source to meet this shortfall. For the past decade, market forces have attracted 1.5-1.8 million skilled and unskilled immigrants to work in the U.S. each year. Though, annual legal quotas admitted only about a million immigrants, resulting in a significant imbalance. A realistic immigration system would make the annual legal intake more or less equal to the flow generated by supply and demand. The U.S. currently issues 5,000 visas per year to year-round unskilled workers, while 400,000-500,000 additional such workers are needed to keep the economy growing (lwv.org). It is apparent that immigrants are needed in America; we also have to take in account that what worked for our country 100 years ago is no longer being beneficial.
There are both positives and negatives when it comes to having illegal immigrants being part of America’s work force. The fact is that this country started out with immigrants, and the back bone of our labor system rested upon how immigrants help build this country. Illegal immigrants help pave the way for jobs in some of the harshest conditions in today’s work place. As stated earlier in the reading, most American’s are not willing to do the low down dirty jobs and the wages that some businesses are willing to pay. Immigrants are, since for them coming here and trying to make the “American Dream” has always and will always be better than what they have left behind, in most cases. America’s economic prosperity in the future is for sure at stake, though I believe those views are more of a standpoint of allowing safety to our country in terms of terrorist attacks, but from the stand point of labor, I think illegal immigrants do more positive than they do negative. Iimmigration will continue to rise until the benefits of coming to the U.S. outweigh the risks of staying back in their homeland and not even be able to financially make it compared to what they would make in their country. Numbers do not lie, when illustrated the benefits that immigrants can have on an economy. Texas is main proof of what can be done when a large portion of your workforce is made up of illegal immigrants. If it works for them, take their blueprint and try to fix America.

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References
"The New York Times Upfront | The News Magazine for High School." Scholastic | Children 's Books and Book Club | Scholastic.com. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/debate/index.asp?article=d090108.

Cohn, Scott. "CNBC 's Top States For Business 2010—And The Winner Is Texas." CNBC. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <http://www.cnbc.com/id/37642856/CNBC_s_Top_States_For_Business_2010_And_The_Winner_Is_Texas>.

"Texas Immigration Statistics." Houston Criminal Law Blog. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <http://blog.davidbreston.com/2010/10/texas-immigration-statistics/>.

The New York Times, Editorial The Price Of Intolerance Published: November 27, 2011 Retrieved on: December 4, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/opinion/the-price-of intolerance.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=immigrants%20economy&st=cse

Gordon, Robert J. Macroeconomics. 12th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.

Carson, Chris, Dorrit, Marks LWVUS Immigration Study “Immigration and the Economy” Marks Retrieved on: December 04, 2011 .http://lwvlacrosse.org/files/voterstudybrief2.pdf

References: "The New York Times Upfront | The News Magazine for High School." Scholastic | Children 's Books and Book Club | Scholastic.com. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/debate/index.asp?article=d090108. Cohn, Scott. "CNBC 's Top States For Business 2010—And The Winner Is Texas." CNBC. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. &lt;http://www.cnbc.com/id/37642856/CNBC_s_Top_States_For_Business_2010_And_The_Winner_Is_Texas&gt;. "Texas Immigration Statistics." Houston Criminal Law Blog. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. &lt;http://blog.davidbreston.com/2010/10/texas-immigration-statistics/&gt;. The New York Times, Editorial The Price Of Intolerance Published: November 27, 2011 Retrieved on: December 4, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/opinion/the-price-of intolerance.html?_r=1&amp;scp=1&amp;sq=immigrants%20economy&amp;st=cse Gordon, Robert J. Macroeconomics. 12th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2012. Print. Carson, Chris, Dorrit, Marks LWVUS Immigration Study “Immigration and the Economy” Marks Retrieved on: December 04, 2011 .http://lwvlacrosse.org/files/voterstudybrief2.pdf