Impact of Undocumented Immigration on Canadian Economy and Labor Market - Research Paper Example

Impact of Undocumented Immigration on Canadian Economy and Labor Market Research ment According to available statistics, it is estimated that there are at least 30 million illegal immigrants worldwide. Although, illegal immigration has a huge international relevance, it has not been exhaustively studied in Canada, especially with regards to its impact on the economy and market labor. This paper seeks to explore the concept of illegal immigration in Canada. Issues of illegal immigration and its undocumentedness will be discussed; government policies and issues such as GDP will be looked at. The objectives of this paper will, include but not limited to, identifying the existing research on illegal immigrants in Canada. Have they been given jobs? How do they affect the economy and the market labor? Available literature on the topic of immigration will be analyzed in detail with regards to policies that have been put in place to check the immigration in Canada. Globally, the issue of undocumented immigrants is one that has been viewed to affect the economy of the host country. For instance, the paper will look at the contribution of the undocumented workers to the economy and competition for available opportunities with the natives. Further, the paper recognizes the fact that irrespective of whether they can vote, the undocumented immigrants immensely affect critical aspects such as politics, endorsements, and broadcasting. The paper analyzes factors that have led to undocumentedness of immigrants in Canada. Introduction In the last ten years, illegal migration has been rampant in most parts of the world, but with a relatively high prevalence in Canada and the U.S.A.  Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that most countries have porous borders and lax immigration policies. In Canada, illegal immigrants have become a major issue of concern. Non-status workers comprise the greatest group of the undocumented immigrants, and they are currently estimated as at between 30 to 40 million. On global scale, workers not documented put in about $150 billion annually in remittances; this makes undocumented immigration an issue of significant relevance and one that has not been thoroughly explored in Canada.  Undocumented immigrants in Canada are defined as people who take part in the Canadian labor force by illegally crossing the borders and not taking into consideration the expiry of their visa or overstaying their visas (Milkman, 2012). This number includes those smuggled or those seeking amnesty. As at now, there are no accurate figures that represent the composition of undocumented or illegal immigrants in Canada. Unconfirmed statistics suggests that half a million of undocumented immigrants in Canada at least nationally. As concerns undocumented workers, data suggest between 100,000 to 200,000 workers nationally. In 2003, a top C.E.O of a construction company suggested there were about 80,000 non-status workers. Some 36,000 unsuccessful refugee applicants were never deported, and an additional 70,000 individuals overstayed their employment, student or visitor visas. The general assumption is that workers are accompanied with their families, so the number could be higher. With regards to where they stay, Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto have the greatest number of undocumented immigrants; about half this number resides in Toronto alone. Methodology A scoping assessment was carried from Jan 2012 to June 2013 to explore impacts of undocumented immigration on Canadian economy and labor force.  In addition, working conditions of the illegal immigrants coming to Canada were looked at. The review was a result of Arksey & O’Malley’s 2005 procedural framework for carrying out scoping lessons and never took into consideration the retrieved literature (Academic OneFile, 2012). Search Parameters There was an attempt to incorporate primary and secondary research from peer-reviewed as well as grey literature with regards to the Canadian immigration context (Johnson, 2012). The Grey literature used included materials or documents outside academic channels; they included various research reports, peer reviews, theses, government reports, unpublished manuscripts, and information guides. To guarantee a rigor in the review, web-based print news reports were not used since the information they always provide vary by time, source, location, and procedures. Nonetheless, these kinds of materials are used for context, or for discussion throughout the paper. The chosen beginning date is because, since that time, the immigration policies in Canada have been put under heavy criticisms and are more rigorous security actions have since been introduced. What is more, racial profiling has lately proliferated and the subject of undocumented immigration that has attracted the media (Cole, 2011). The assumption here is that a larger degree of literature regarding the undocumentedness has been formed. Results A scoping review of the available literature on the topic, as well as Grey literature connected to economy and labor force and operational conditions of the non-status immigrants in Canada, was conducted. 7 out of 20 articles were peer reviewed. Four were qualitative investigative papers; two were discussion papers; one was a discussion report. Two studies employed individual reviews and credible informants such as work representatives, immigration service agents and labor force personnel from Canada. The third research only utilized interviews with credible informants. The discussion report also used a few aspects of qualitative method as it carried out group discussions incorporating non-status employees. Conversely, discussion table reported secondary data such as literature review and immigration procedures. They also reported experiences of selected clinics, agencies, or coalitions who served or supported undocumented immigrants’ rights in Canada. From literature review, it emerged that being a non-status worker had a huge impact on Canadian economy and labor force. Non-status workers in Canada described their experiences as “unlivable” and “degrading” (Richardson, 2012). They always felt continuous fears that they would be deported or that their jobs would be affected. Regarding elements of social isolation, exclusion, and integration, non-status workers were equivocal. The government agencies and informants from key labor and market sectors interviewed showed that there had been an overall positive impact in the economy in that the immigrants had provided cheap labor, which boosted the economy. Additionally, they also provide a ready market for the produce. The native Canadians felt that the undocumented immigrants had had relatively more benefits than them. Discussion Following the methodological approach employed in the study as well as the literature review, undocumented immigrants have a huge impact on the Canadian economy and labor force. The progression of wages in non-status workers is impacted by immigration of people into that group. The fundamental approach can easily be explained thus: an observation can be made on the continuous wage patterns in Canada’s labor market, with regards to individual skill groups for example school or college graduates. One only needs to see whether there is a correlation between the trends with participation in a given job group. Apparently, the groups that experienced the biggest supply shocks were the ones where salaries either grew least or fell most. The assessment of salary trends across different job groups in the Canadian labor market borrows so much from the factors affecting inequalities in salary even in the U.S. at least with regards to the last thirty years. Many researches into the issues reveal that the extent of workforce with predetermined skill sets assists in determining the necessary factors that are responsible for upsurge in the Canadian wage inequality. The extent of a workforce with specific qualifications comes in handy in determining the relative salary of a particular group. Simply put, studies done outside the context of immigration have a conclusion that the variation in the number of size of the workforce that belongs to a specific group influences the employment openings that a particular group faces. As discussed earlier, the literature on immigration used compared the results in places that measured the effect of supply shifts on salaries. Put another way, the early research sought to compare Canadian labor market conditions in cities that received most immigrants to the ones that received least immigrants and make inference, from the spatial relationship about the impact of labor market on the Canadian economy. Perhaps a significant conceptual reason for changing the element of analysis from cities and towards skilled groups in the Canadian national labor market is to evade the “contamination bias” usually resulting when the natives have a reason to react to supply shocks. Where undocumented immigration makes economic conditions in a given city worse, the native workers have a reason to “emigrate” from that particular city. The movements neutralize the effects of immigration into regions that may not have been impacted by the immigration influx. When the focus of assessment is shifted to skilled groups, the make-up of the native labor force in every group becomes relatively fixed, so that there will be a lesser potential for native movements to negatively influence the relationship between results across the skill groups. It is not easy for natives to suddenly become older or younger to evade immigration competition. What is more, it would very expensive for the natives to obtain extra education. To support this, one only needs to look at decennial census data, which summarized the conditions in the Canadian labor force from 1960 to 2010. Specifically, data from the 1960-2000 decennial surveys are used, as well as the pooled 2007-2011 Canadian Community Surveys. For convenience, reference is made to the pooled CCS samples of 2010 survey. The data sets are quite extensive. Datasets from 1960 and 1970 indicated between 1 to 3% random sampling of the Canadian population. These datasets are used to categorize workers into different skill groups as dictated by work and education experience. Because the influx of, for instance, foreign graduates, aged 20 and above have varying labor market impacts on old and young graduates, it is important to consider the effect that undocumented immigration has on the Canadian economy. These people contribute to the economy by proving the necessary labor. They also provide market for goods, which further improves the economy. Perhaps a major matter of concern would be the distribution of opportunities. Are there competition issues where the native Canadians would feel left out or not equally represented? These are some of the issues that are likely to arise. This then brings the important question of “immigrant share” for every skill group as a part of the labor force in groups that are foreign-born. This share measures the amount of supply shocks that affect the labor market for every group at different times. It is obvious that immigration into Canada increased the supply of cheap labor since the immigrants would be willing to work for less or for longer hours. This creates a supply shift across all work groups and the imbalance in jobs distribution greatly changes. Below is a quick look at the economic impact that the immigrants played in Canada: a study found that undocumented Canadian immigrants increased Canadian’s annual income by up to $1.6 trillion; out of this, $1.5 trillion went to back to the immigrants’ benefits and wages; the remaining $35 went to the natives. The $35 billion is equivalent to 0.2% and is referred to as “immigration effect”. The experimental documentation shows that immigration has overall positive effects as it benefit everyone. Conclusion The paper has looked at the impact of undocumented immigration on the Canadian economy and the labor force. Although Canadian authorities should come up with ways of addressing illegal immigration, the overall impact of immigration has been overwhelming. From the literature reviewed and interviews done as well as comparison of various datasets, immigration has had a positive impact of the Canadian economy and labor force. The immigrants, whether or not they are documented, have provided cheap labor. The number of undocumented immigrants in Canada has risen over the years. They have made significant contributions to the economy. However, there have been issues about undocumentedness; some natives believe that the immigrants compete for resources. In some instances, the immigrants have not been well represented and their impact on the economy and labor force misunderstood, despite the fact that reports indicate they file their income tax returns. The issue of non-status workers is also discussed, with a bias to foreign-born workers who have different skill groups and who have been marginalized in terms of equal job distributions. Canada can take advantage of the immense economic contribution of the immigrants to further improve its economy. Nonetheless, there is a need to address issues such contamination bias and supply shocks. Overall, the undocumented immigration has been beneficial to Canadian economy and labor force. \ Annotated Bibliography Richardson, Sarah. "A nation of immigrants--again." Canadian History 47.4 ` (2012): 13. Academic Onefile. Web. 2Oct. 2012    In this article, the author shows how immigration can be a greater source of economic growth of a country.  When he did calculate the economic growth of Australia in the last 20 years, he realized that there has been growth in GDP and the economy in general. Jobs have been created, and the cost of labor has been relatively cheap, a fact that can be attributed to the cheap labor the undocumented immigrants provide.  The author observes that about 20% of Canada’s economic growth comes from immigrants. She mentions that from 1960 to date, there has been an upsurge of immigrants; today the number stands at close to two million. She notes that in some instances, the immigrants have benefited more the natives. Overall, she gives useful insight into the situation of undocumented immigrants in Canada. Milkman, Ruth. "Immigrants and the road to power." Dissent 59.3 (2012): 52+. Academic One File. 8. Oct. 2012       The author gives a considerable amount of information on immigration. She points out that immigration can be due to many factors including political, economic, social reasons, and poverty.   The author shows that in the case of Canada, the economy has benefitted from the labor that is partly provided by the immigrants. As a result, they have had a great impact in the Canadian economy and labor force. She points out that workers would reluctantly or willingly accept low paying jobs. The cheap labor is an advantage to employers hence growth in GDP. Milkman explores the difficulties associated with legally documenting immigrants in Canada. She offers a considerable yet unbiased opinion on the impact of undocumented immigration on the economy. She explores the various motivations for immigrations and some of the issues surrounding it.  Cole, David. "Five Myths about Immigration." The River Reader. Comp. JF Trimmer. 10th. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011. 259-265. Cole explains the five familiar myths about immigrants. The first myth is that immigrants are flooding Canada. He compares the actual calculation of undocumented immigrants and concludes that 8% of employees in Canada in 1990 were purely immigrants. Out of this number, he observes that most of it comprises students and visitors who overstay or fail to renew their visas. His second myth is that undocumented immigrants compete for jobs with the natives. His third myth is that immigrants drain Canadians’ resources. In retrospect, he states that immigrants do not actually drain assets; they are deprived of some basic programs. Some of these programs include medical care, education, and food. By denying them these basic programs, the overall cost on Canadian economy and workforce could be higher. “The recognition of foreign qualifications.” Canadian Parliamentary Review Winter 2011: Academic OneFile. Web. 15.2012 The author notes that Canada is among developing countries that have welcomed immigrants from various parts of the world as long as the immigrants are not a potential threat to security. So long as anyone can show that they are professional enough and have skills necessary enough to work in Canada, they are allowed to contribute to the economy of Canada. It is the function of the government to implement structures that welcome immigrants and enact policies that ensure the immigrants are incorporated into the Canadian society. She notes that this can be a big challenge. Overall, she points out the fact that undocumented immigrants can have both positive and negative impacts in the Canadian economy and labor force. Johnson, Fawn. "Immigration: A Problem without a Solution." National     Journal (2011). Academic OneFile. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. The author argues that undocumented immigrants hurt the economy as they do not pay taxes; therefore, they gain more economically than they contribute. However, he contradicts this view when he observes that according to IRS projections, six million illegal immigrants filed income tax returns every year. Research assessed by impartial Congressional Budget office indicated that between a third and a half of illegal immigrants paid local, state, and federal taxes. Undocumented immigrants in Canada were estimated to pay $7 billion annually into social security. Additionally, research established that they spent millions of dollars annually, which supports the Canadian economy, and helps generate newer jobs. Overall, the author gives the negative and positive impacts of undocumented immigrants in Canada.     . Read More