Essay Example: Immigration in the Twenty-First Century

Immigration occurs when people move from one nation to another nation and stay in the new nation for an extended period. Immigration could happen due to various reasons including; search for better economic conditions mainly due to poverty or financial turmoil, escape from cultural and political instability as well as armed conflict from the immigrants home country, and for education purposes. Immigration has become a significant force in the population dynamics of very many countries today.

Incidentally, in the United States, from the 1990s to the 2000s immigration attributed to about a third of the growth of the countrys population every year. It also accounted for approximately half of the increase in the labor force. The United States currently has a foreign-born population of thirty-eight million people, and this constitutes thirteen percent of the entire population. Between 2000 and 2006, the countries that are more developed across the globe received an average of 2.6 million migrants every year from less developed nations. In total, the number of immigrants during this period was equal to 13.1 million people (Massey, 2013).

Developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, have different pull factors that draw people to them. Statistics have shown that these countries have low fertility rates and increased aging populations, and this has led to reduced replacement workers from the countries seeking employment (Furchtgott-Roth, 2013). Incidentally, Russias adult population is expected to decline to twenty million from the current ninety million by the end of this century. The Russian population consists of eighty percent of ethnic Russians, but studies have shown that the Central Asian Muslim minorities have higher fertility levels. This has led to predictions that Russia will have a Muslim majority by the year 2040. Russias population has also been seen to decrease by 70,000 people annually (Ramage, Bean & Johnson, 2016).

Japan has also been seen to have a low population growth rate as well. Its population has been declining since 2013. Today, the elderly people make up a quarter of the population. By 2060, this number is expected to increase to forty percent. The number of deaths in Japan was also seen to exceed the number of births this year (Ramage et al., 2016). This has, in turn, created a high demand for jobs in the service sector and employment areas that require low skill levels. In turn, most of these developed countries rely on immigrant workers to fulfill their work needs. Migrants are therefore able to earn a lot more income in the developed countries as opposed to when working in their home countries.

Americas immigrant population is what has helped America not to fall over the demographic cliff. Currently, about thirty-eight million people living in America were not born in the country, and nearly two-thirds of this population came legally into the country. Nevertheless, immigration has been a topic of debate over the years as some people explain why it is beneficial while those who oppose it say that it is should be discouraged (Ramage et al., 2016). Immigrants have brought many positive impacts to the countries that they have migrated into. Very many developed nations have been able to achieve much of their success due to the influx of immigrants (Furchtgott-Roth, 2013). These immigrants entered the countries and became scientists, professors, medical practitioners, among other professions. Immigration is therefore beneficial to developed countries and should be promoted.

Legal immigration has been seen to largely fuel the countries economies. When the immigrants join others in the labor force, they raise the countrys GDP by increasing its productive capacity. The incomes of the immigrants also rise and this aids in pushing the economy forward. The increase in immigrants has also been seen to increase the levels of innovation in the different countries. Many immigrants are more innovative than the native people because the immigrants are highly concentrated in STEM occupations which involve a lot of entrepreneurial activities as well as extensive research and development. Incidentally, 42% of computer software developers and 44% of medical scientists are born in foreign countries (Massey, 2013). This therefore shows that immigration grows the economy and increases both efficiency and productivity.

Many businesses that hire immigrants are also able to enjoy reduced costs of labor. This is mainly because the majority of immigrants who go to developed countries move there in search of opportunities to grow economically. Consequently, they may be happy to work for wages that are lower than those of the native people. Hiring immigrants into ones company will aid in increasing diversity in the workplace (Massey, 2013). This will ensure that the business remains on the right side of laws relating to discrimination. Additionally, hiring immigrants into ones organization brings in a broader knowledge and perspective that is brought in by people who come from different cultural backgrounds. Hiring immigrants can also enhance business expansion because the immigrants may aid in marketing the products to people from the same cultural and language background.

People who do not support immigration have cited different reasons why immigration should be discouraged. The principal claim is that immigrants take jobs that would otherwise have been performed by the natives which consequently leads to unemployment of native citizens. Another negative implication of immigration is the cost that is incurred by the taxpayers and different government agencies. This is as a result of various procedures followed by the government such as background checks, citizenship processing, and personal interviews (Brunner & Colarelli, 2010). Finally, another issue brought about by people who do not support immigration is the claim that immigrants are the ones who carry out terrorist activities.

Some of these claims hold no water. Incidentally, it has been established that even natives carry out terrorist attacks. Additionally, research conducted in the UK determined that there is no significant impact of immigration on employment levels. The only people who may be negatively affected are those who already earn minimum wages since they can be pushed out to create room for immigrant employment.

This therefore shows that although immigration may negatively impact the country, the positive implications of immigration far outweigh the negatives. It is therefore essential for nations to allow for immigration to occur to improve their economies and raise their Gross Domestic Products. America and other developed nations should, thus, find ways to increase immigrant populations in their countries, and they should adopt immigration policies that are more flexible to spur growth in their countries.

References

Brunner, L., & Colarelli, S. (2010). Immigration in the Twenty-First Century: A Personnel Selection Approach. The Independent Review, 14(3).

Furchtgott-Roth, D. (2013). The Economic Benefits of Immigration. Issue Brief; Immigration, Economics, Other, Urban Policy.

Massey, D. (2013). Immigration Statistics for the 21st Century. NCBI; US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

Ramage, J., Bean, J., & Johnson, J. (2016). Writing arguments; A Rhetoric with Readings (10th ed.). Wyoming: Pearson Education, Inc.