Edo defines immigration as the global movement of individuals from their native countries to other countries, of which they are neither natives or citizens (18). Globally, there is a perpetual movement of people from one country to another for different reasons that necessitate such changes. While some individuals move to other countries in search of a better working environment, others are virtually compelled to relocate due to political instability in their home countries, among other reasons. According to Edo, America is one of the nations that has experienced immigration for a considerable amount of time (18). Most people prefer to move to America more than in any other country due to its strong economy and the fact that it is a superpower nation. Although immigration has many impacts that are beneficial to countries like America, it may also have adverse effects on the local people. While immigration promotes entrepreneurship culture, creates a strong global market, diversifies the local economies, deals with an elderly population, and establishes a flexible labor pool, it negatively impacts the country by affecting the wages of the local people and causing over-population issues.
One of the significant effects of immigration is the promotion of entrepreneurship culture. It has a detrimental impact on the business sector, as many immigrants are very ambitious and always prepared to take risks. According to Hart, immigrants are innate entrepreneurs (15). They are extensively trained, highly educated, and incredibly inventive when creating new ideas. Immigrants are also highly productive, which makes it possible to drive innovations and create new employment opportunities. Most of the young immigrants establish businesses that produce innovative products. In the American economy, where immigrants have built classic businesses leading to advanced standards of living and a more excellent choice of goods and services (Hart et al., 17). Besides, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who is a Russian immigrant, Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone(AT&T), comes from Scotland, and Abdul Fattah Jandali, the father to Steve Job who was the co-founder of Apple company, was a Syrian. These individuals have all succeeded in foreign countries as a result of entrepreneurship culture that has inspired them to venture into different countries as their attempt to survive and adopt the standards of living.
Immigration also helps in the creation of a global market. Other than strengthening the local economies, immigrants contribute to a robust global economy (Angelsen 88). In many countries that allow immigration, remittances are common. Angelsen argues that more than 40 percent of Guatemala's GDP in the USA comes from the remittances offered by immigrants (88). Besides, the immigrants who have better chances of pursuing advanced education or highly skilled employment take those abilities back to their native countries to develop and improve their economy as well. Therefore, in the era of globalization, immigration promotes economic growth to both the host and native countries through the creation of a global market.
Immigration also drives diversification of local economies. Immigrants bring new experiences, ideas, and perspectives to the native communities. With the additional diversification, more strength is found in the community (Kerr et al., 13). The immigrants establish their businesses, make profits, and in turn, support the local people. This increases domestic production and income, which further aids in increasing economic output. Besides, immigration elevates economic growth with a consistent increase in tax revenues, which raises the potential government expenditure. Therefore, stable economies that are centered on the perspectives of immigrants tend to be the most successful than those who do not embrace it.
Immigration also aids in dealing with an aging population globally (McDonald et al., 32). Many economies, especially in the west, face a demographic crisis with low birth rates and the elderly population, leading to an increased dependency ratio. As a result, there is a lot of pressure on tax revenues, government expenditure, and social care. The high numbers of older people within the country decrease productivity as the workforce available in the nation is unable to meet the state's requirement of labor. This is because the level of production experienced in society demands more energetic, young, and healthy individuals. Therefore, immigration effectively addresses this problem since it allows young workers to fill the vacancies in both social care and health care (Kaushal & Yao 480). Therefore, immigrants ultimately enhance the workforce and benefit the government financially through taxes.
Immigration also has a beneficial impact on the labor market. Most immigrants are incredibly mobile. They move to places where labor is in demand, and the earnings are high, which creates a flexible labor market. This aids in the prevention of a booming economy overheating by raising the pool of laborers in various sectors of the economy to meet the increasing demand (Edo et al., 60). Similarly, immigration potentially expands the consumer needs for various goods and services, which increases the demand for the workforce. Although immigration escalates competition for the present job opportunities in different occupational fields, it also establishes new job opportunities. However, in the scenario when the economy deteriorates, the apparent fact is that the immigrants do not stay in foreign countries to receive unemployment benefits; rather, they go back to their home countries.
Although immigration is beneficial, it affects the wages of the natives. Edo argues that immigrants with fewer skills exert downward pressure on the laborer's wages (43). Companies have the capacity to fill job vacancies with low paid workers than before when the supply of low-skilled labor is high. The UK had an increased rate of net immigration in the period between 2010 and 2018. However, this was also the time when real income growth was stagnant. The effect of immigration on incomes tends to be higher for the low paid people and those that have the least educational qualification. Additionally, the latest study conducted by the Bank of England discovered that high immigration rates had a very small effect on the overall income (Edo et al., 16). Earnings fall by 0.31 percent, with a 10 percent rise in migration. Also, a study by Kerr reveals the negative impacts of immigration on poorly paid native laborers (68). He stated that a one percent increase in the rate of immigrants to non-immigrants results in a 0.5 percent decrease in wages for the lower paid. Therefore, immigration affects the salaries of the local people since immigrants are always willing to occupy the poorly paid jobs that the local people are not willing to take.
Immigration also puts pressure on public amenities and causes overpopulation. A rise in the population of the natives, together with migration, burdens the economy by introducing a lot of pressure on social facilities such as hospitals, roads, public transport, and schools (Kaushal & Yao 481). Theoretically, high immigration leads to increased tax revenue, which results in higher government expenditure. However, immigration is often focused in certain areas, especially along the borders. As a result, the local communities in other areas experience poor quality public services as the population increases. Additionally, immigrants tend to be more attracted to highly populated areas leading to overpopulation problems (Kaushal & Yao 482). Therefore, the distribution of immigrants may aid in resolving such an issue.
Conclusion
Immigration positively impacts the country since immigrants bring in new talents and abilities that are necessary for the creation of a strong economy in the host countries. They are also likely to take up risky jobs that the local people shy away from, which contributes to the economic prosperity of a country. Immigrants increase the level of production in the country by providing continuous labor supply where it is needed and fill positions that the elderly in the local community cannot perform effectively. Besides, it creates a strong global market since immigration aids in promoting developments globally. However, high rates of immigration cause overpopulation issues in the country and lower the regular wages of the native laborers. Thus, due to numerous advantages associated with immigration, the United States, among other nations in the world, should embrace it to stimulate economic growth, among other benefits globally.
