CROSS-COUNTRY VARIATION IN THE IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: CANADA, MEXICO, AND THE UNITED STATES - Essay Example

The authors used the data retrieved from the Mexican, the US, and the Canadian censuses to obtain a statistically significant and numerically comparable link between the wages and the shifts in the supply of labor caused by the immigrants in each of the selected countries. It was found that a shift of 10 per cent in the supply of labor is linked with a corresponding 3 per cent to 4 per cent alteration in wages opposite in sign. In spite of the similarity in the response of wage, migration’s effect on the structure of wage is significantly different across the selected countries.

In spite of the similarity of the effect of shift in the labor supply upon the changes in wages, different countries experience different effects of migration upon the structure of wages. As a result of the international migration, wage inequality was narrowed in Canada primarily due to the fact that the immigrants in Canada try to be high-skilled disproportionately. On the other hand, the effect of international migration increased the inequality of wage in the US primarily because of the fact that the immigrants in the US try to be low-skilled disproportionately. . A surprising finding is that workers’ large-scale migration from Mexico caused a slight reduction in the low-skilled workers’ relative wage that remain in Mexico.

Studying the effect of immigration on the wage rate of a country is a very important and sensitive topic of research because every year, thousands of new immigrants enter the selected as well as other countries around the world. If the government is not able to make informed decision to retain the optimal inflow of immigrants into a country, it can have drastic effects on the socio-economic conditions of the nation as a whole. The authors did a phenomenal job by conducting a detailed research in this field and contributed a lot for the betterment of the society.

Similar studies should be conducted to analyze the impact of immigration on the wage rate of other countries around the world. Works Cited: Aydemir, Abdurrahman, and Borjas, George J. “Cross-country variation in the impact of international migration: Canada, Mexico, and the United States.” Journal of the European Economic Association. 5.4. (2007):