移民有利于美国工人的工资和就业机会
12-09, 2015
移民有利于美国工人的工资和就业机会
Immigration helps American workers’ wage and job opportunities
纵观美国历史, 在成本和收益允许的情况如此大量的移民引起了一场激烈的讨论。关于移民问题辩论核心的一个方面是它对美国经济的影响。虽然用一些过于简单的经济理论来看，随着劳动力的供给增加可能意味着短期内工资会下降，但这其实是有多方面的原因，不单单因为移民。恰恰相反,移民在许多积极的方面影响了美国经济。
首先,移民通常不直接对本土工人的收入产生负面影响，因为本土工人和移民工人通常是互为补充,而不是竞争同一个工作。本地的工人和移民往往有不同的技能,因此会寻找不同类型的工作.
Throughout U.S. history, immigration has sparked an intense debate over the costs and benefits of allowing in such a large number of people. One of the central aspects of the immigration debate is its impact on the American economy. While some overly simplistic views of economic theory might suggest that wages will decline in the short run as the supply of labor increases, this is not the case with immigration for many reasons. Instead, immigration impacts the United States economy in many positive ways.
First, immigrants generally do not have a direct negative impact on the earnings of native-born workers, as native-born workers and immigrant workers generally complement each other rather than compete for the same job. “Native-born workers and immigrants tend to have different skill sets and therefore seek different types of jobs” (Borjas 2006:230). Thus, I think immigrants are not increasing the labor market competition for native-born workers and therefore do not negatively affect American workers’ earnings. To be sure, there are some instances when immigrants and the native born are similarly skilled and substitutable for similar jobs. However, recent research has found that many firms respond to an increase in the supply of labor by expanding their business. Peri (2010) shows that the economic effect of immigrants on U.S.-born workers has been mostly positive. Specifically, for the period from 1960 to 2008, Peri also summarizes that no statistically significant effect of immigrants on the net job growth of U.S.-born workers was found which suggesting the economy absorbs immigrants by expanding job opportunities rather than by displacing workers born in the United States. Therefore, an increased supply of labor as a result of immigration is easily absorbed into the labor market as a result of increased demand for labor, without lowering the wages of native-born workers.
Immigration helps American workers’ wage and job opportunities
纵观美国历史, 在成本和收益允许的情况如此大量的移民引起了一场激烈的讨论。关于移民问题辩论核心的一个方面是它对美国经济的影响。虽然用一些过于简单的经济理论来看，随着劳动力的供给增加可能意味着短期内工资会下降，但这其实是有多方面的原因，不单单因为移民。恰恰相反,移民在许多积极的方面影响了美国经济。
首先,移民通常不直接对本土工人的收入产生负面影响，因为本土工人和移民工人通常是互为补充,而不是竞争同一个工作。本地的工人和移民往往有不同的技能,因此会寻找不同类型的工作.
Throughout U.S. history, immigration has sparked an intense debate over the costs and benefits of allowing in such a large number of people. One of the central aspects of the immigration debate is its impact on the American economy. While some overly simplistic views of economic theory might suggest that wages will decline in the short run as the supply of labor increases, this is not the case with immigration for many reasons. Instead, immigration impacts the United States economy in many positive ways.
First, immigrants generally do not have a direct negative impact on the earnings of native-born workers, as native-born workers and immigrant workers generally complement each other rather than compete for the same job. “Native-born workers and immigrants tend to have different skill sets and therefore seek different types of jobs” (Borjas 2006:230). Thus, I think immigrants are not increasing the labor market competition for native-born workers and therefore do not negatively affect American workers’ earnings. To be sure, there are some instances when immigrants and the native born are similarly skilled and substitutable for similar jobs. However, recent research has found that many firms respond to an increase in the supply of labor by expanding their business. Peri (2010) shows that the economic effect of immigrants on U.S.-born workers has been mostly positive. Specifically, for the period from 1960 to 2008, Peri also summarizes that no statistically significant effect of immigrants on the net job growth of U.S.-born workers was found which suggesting the economy absorbs immigrants by expanding job opportunities rather than by displacing workers born in the United States. Therefore, an increased supply of labor as a result of immigration is easily absorbed into the labor market as a result of increased demand for labor, without lowering the wages of native-born workers.
In addition, as Segmented Labor Theory argues, international migration stems from the intrinsic labor demands of modern industrial societies. The demand for cheap, flexible labor makes many low skilled and low status immigrants satisfy this need, such that increases the supply of labor used in the production process and makes business more productive. Thus, immigration raises the overall productivity of the U.S. economy and increases the total gross domestic product (GDP). Moreover, immigration adds productive resources to the economy, allows greater utilization of land and capital, and thus increases the total production and total income.
More evidence also shows that immigration was associated with an increase in the average income of U.S. workers over the long term. According to his research, Mosisa (2002) finds that a 1-percent rise in immigration resulted in an increase of 0.6 percent to 0.9 percent in income per worker, meaning that total immigration to the United States from 1990 to 2007 produced a 6.6-percent to 9.9-percent increase in workers’ income. In dollar terms, those percentages translate into a gain of about $5,100 in the annual income of the average U.S. worker, in constant 2005 dollars, or 20 percent to 25 percent of the total real increase in average yearly income per worker between 1990 and 2007. Therefore, from these statistical data, immigration indeed has a positive impact on average income of U.S. workers, and in the long time, helps US economy as well.
Immigration not only impacts wages of U.S. workers, more job opportunities occur at the same time. Equally important, immigration affects employment opportunities for the native born workers as well. One reason that immigrants do not displace U.S. workers from their jobs is that many immigrants create their jobs by starting their own business. In fact, according to the 2011 Current Population Survey, “7.5 percent of the foreign-born population is self-employed” (Kugler 2013). Thus, we can expect that not only are immigrants unlikely to take jobs away from the native born, but they can also create new jobs for American workers. According to the 2010 American Community Survey, “there were 900,000 small-business owners among current immigrants—close to 18 percent of all incorporated business owners”(Kugler 2013). Massey’s New Economics of Migration theory explains the reason why immigrants start their own business at United States. A key insight of this theory is that migration decisions are not only made by isolated individuals people but within families and households in which people act collectively to maximize not only expected income but also minimize risks to income and to overcome a variety of local market failure. Thus, those immigrants start their own business in United States not only for themselves but also for their families. With the development of their own business, immigrants could earn more money than in their local market; later they can send more money back to their families that will also positively impact their families’ socio-economic status in their hometown. In this progress, immigrants maximize their income, improve their social status, and minimize the risks and other local market problems. By starting their own business, immigrants not only improve the quality of their own life, but also provide many job opportunities for nation-born workers. Therefore, it is a win-win progress that indeed will positively affect the US economy.
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