Immigrants are an engine of our economy, and their native country's. How can this be a good thing? Check out this Washington Post column as well (you will have to register, but it is free). Think comparative advantage.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Flow of Immigrants’ Money to Latin America Surges
Immigrants are an engine of our economy, and their native country's. How can this be a good thing? Check out this Washington Post column as well (you will have to register, but it is free). Think comparative advantage.
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The vast amount of immigrant workers now living in america is a good thing because they are willing to do jobs for low wages and allow those who could make more money for example, teaching children, than cleaning their house. Remittances are also a good thing for the global economy. The money that Latinos are sending back to their home countries is worth more in purchasing power than it is in the United States. This is allowing the people of Latin America to start businesses and also demand more goods. This stimulates the global economy and will cause more supplies and more demand for everyone.
Even though immigrants are making less money than natives, and are poor by our standards, they live as though they are not; they send money back to their native countries and buy things like houses and cars. Many people, including the ones outside the 7-11 in Southampton who hold the "No Amnesty" signs, believe that these immigrants are hurting our economy and taking jobs away from Americans. In reality, they do the jobs that we would not, and in sending money back to their families in other countries, they are helping those economies. Over time, people will no longer need to come to America to find work, it will already be available to them in their own countries.
The money that immigrants are sending home helps their family. There is a high percentage of these immigrants that once they have enough money to build a house and have other needs in their own country will go back to it. So for now there are immigrants who are taking on jobs that others may not be willing to take on or consider themselves overly skilled to take on. The highly skilled can focus on jobs that takes up their best assets and the immigrants can do things that bring them just the amount of money they need. There is no point of a doctor to waste his or her time to build a shed in their backyard instead of saving lives and immigrants facilitate that by taking on low paying jobs.
The Lation migrants are, in the long run, helping our country. As posted above, they are willing to take the jobs that no one else is willing to take. If these jobs werent completed, the US would not be functioning properly. If you had a family struggling for money in another country, wouldnt you help them? When latinos send money to their homeland, it is for the benefit of their family. At least these immigrants have a work ethic, and are making American a better place.
Immigration can both help the economy and hurt, but if the goverment aplies other methods with immigration it can actually gain more than it can loose. Yes, the economy is getting hurt by the money that it is being sent back to the immigrant's countries but there is no way to stop that. But the goverment can legalize imigrants for a certain period of time and tax them a certain amount for living here and also make them do an income tax, because many immigrants dont declare the money they make.
Immigration is something that has affected life in this country since its origin. Every time these immigrants were treated unfairly as other groups thought of them as intruders. However, immigrants take jobs that no one will do and accept pay that is very low. This actually helps those that oppose immigration as labor is cheaper. In terms of the economy immigration helps because low salary jobs are taken. This increases the well being of our economy and since the money is often sent back to other countries it helps the economy of that nation as well.
I think that now, as much as ever, immigration is a vital part of our country's sucess. Throughout US history there have been immigrants swarming in, taking the lowest level jobs available, and eventually moving up in rank when the next immigrant group moves in. It is no different than what is going on today. Also, it is no wonder that many immigrants are on the lowest levels of the poverty spectrum, considering 3/4 of them are sending checks home each month to their families in their mother countries. The article on the Washington Post website also pointed out a very important fact. "Poverty is relative." Though to US standards the majority of Latinos are impoverished, relative to their mother country's standards, they may be millionaires. Therefore, not only does the US econonmy benefit from immigration, but so do the immigrants, making immigration to the US a good thing all-around.
It is very true that these immigrants take jobs that require very little skill or aren't desirable and doing it cheaply and in turn this leaves natives or atleast the ones in a better position than the immigrants to then use there time more efficently and to boost the economy. And potentially in the future the latinos sending back money to their families should be an advantage to their country which in turn should be an advantage to ours.
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