How Illegal Immigrants Effect on the Economy and Unemployment - Essay Example

Illegal Immigration The purpose of this essay is to determine the effects of the illegal immigrants on the economy as a whole. The paper starts with analyzing some statistics regarding the immigrant growth in the US lately. Then it moves on to discuss the positive effects that the illegal immigrants have on the economy. The main part of the essay deals with the notion that the negative effects on the economy due to illegal immigration outweigh the positive effects. It also concludes that the benefits that such immigrants get are far more than the services that they provide. Lastly, the paper deals with what should be done with this problem that is growing as a threat for the economies of certain countries. Introduction Recently, there has been a growing concern over the illegal immigration of people from the developing countries into the developed ones. In the US, in the period 2000-2005, approximately 4.1 billion workers immigrated out of which a maximum of 2.7 billion workers were reported to be illegal. The trend has been somewhat similar since 2005 in terms of the number of legal and illegal immigrants; however the fact is that the number of immigrants has fallen considerably. (Passel and Cohn, 2008) The number of illegal immigrants still is 4% of the US population. The increasing population of the illegal immigrants has worried many government and other authorities who seek to study the positive and the negative effects of illegal immigration on the economy. Below are a few. Positive Effects of Illegal Immigration Immigration, generally, has positive consequences on economies that lack labor force. In certain developed countries over the last few years it has been observed that the native population of the young men has been falling considerably. There are various reasons that can be attributed to this. The main one, however, is the fact that people do not have children. The reduction in the fatality rate of the developed countries has been a cause of the reduction of the labor force. (Heer, 1990) An example of such a country is Britain. In such countries, immigration, especially the illegal one, can help because the immigrants can fill up the space in the labor force that has been empty because of the general attitude towards having children. According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the undocumented labor force adds $ 10 million to the US economy. Another important thing is that the legal immigrants are a source of cheap labor. According to a study, in the US the legal male immigrants earn 41.8% more than the illegal immigrants. The figure is approximately the same for the female immigrants. (Rivera-Batiz, 1999) The reason for this is the fact that the illegal immigrants are usually unskilled, underprivileged and the duration of their stay is shorter. Companies and organizations can make use of this unskilled labor and can cut on various costs. The reduction of the costs is an incentive for companies and so they might actually also reduce the prices of their products so that the customers are not exploited. This may lead to the betterment of the seller-consumer relation. Illegal immigrants, being a source of cheap labor force, can be beneficial for the economy, but they may also cause many problems that may affect the economy and the society. Negative Effects of Illegal Immigration As discussed before, the illegal immigrants are generally unskilled and desperately in need of jobs. That is why they are forced to work at very low wage rates. Though this might be advantageous for producers, a matter of concern is the fact that a majority of such immigrants are exploited. (Marcelli, 2005) Because of their need to be undetected, usually such immigrants are employed in marginal jobs in declining industries that provide lower pays. The result is that most of the undocumented Mexicans in New York are either flower vendors or dishwashers. (Rivera-Batiz, 1999) In such occupations, these immigrants are not provided any kind of job security. The undocumented nature of the jobs also allows for them to be exploited very easily. The most important thing is that their living standards may actually deteriorate rather than improving. Research into the matter of illegal immigration further shows results that are very disturbing. In the US alone, millions of illegal immigrants earn money and send the remittances home. This means that by illegal means they come into the country, exploit the job market by replacing the native born workers, earn revenues and then send them home. According to a report enormous money is sucked out of the US economy by the illegal immigrants or more precisely the ‘aliens.’(Schlussel, 2006) The result of this has been the fact that in 2004 around $160 billion of the US economy was sent home. The number increased to $167 billion in the year 2005. Equally important is the fact that illegal immigration has caused many problems in certain countries related to employment levels. It is true that in some European countries the labor force has been decreasing and the influx of the immigrants (both legal and illegal) have hence worked as a positive factor in the economy however this has not been true for every developed country. In the US, according to a study, the influx of the immigrants has actually caused employment problems. (Sum, Harrington and Khatiwada, 2006) In the period 2000-2005, the number of employed native-born young men declined by 1.7 million. At the same time, the number of the immigrants that were employed increased by 1.9 million. The result of the study is very disturbing because it actually means that the native population is not getting ample opportunities to prosper. The illegal immigrants, according to a report by the Centre for Immigration Studies (CIS) displaced around 1 million Americans between the ages of 18 to 64 (having less or no education) in the period 2000-2005. Illegal immigrants, being a source of cheap labor, also affect the wage rates in the economy tremendously. (Preston, 2006) Since they are willing to work for lower wages they may actually hurt the job market by reducing the wages for other workers. This, on one hand, can cause wage problems for the natives. On the other hand, it can cause the workers to lose motivation so that their overall productivity can be affected adversely. Lower paid workers may also turn to earning money through illegal means such that the crime rate is increased. Illegal immigrants also are a burden on the states. This is because generally they do not pay taxes that are levied on all citizens. Since they are not documented, there is no way the government can impose taxes on them. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the annual costs of the illegal immigrants in the three areas of education, emergency medical care and incarceration accounted for $ 36 billion in 2006 with the total annual cost falling somewhere between $67 billion and $87 billion. This is a large figure and the fact that no revenue is earned in return may cause the deterioration of the economy. Conclusion To conclude, illegal immigrants may be a source of cheap labor force but they can have detrimental effects on the society and mostly the economy. They may be a source of burden for the states, a disturbance to the economy and a source of an increase in the crime rate. The services they use are far greater than the taxes (if) they pay in return. The governments of such countries need to take important steps to deal with the problem, like charging heavy fines on those that are illegal immigrants. This would help reduce the inflow of such immigrants. In fact it has happened in the past where the overall illegal immigration has fallen to 10.8 million in 2009 from 11.6 million in 2008. (Watanabe, 2010) Works Cited Heer, David M. Undocumented Mexicans in the United States / David M. Heer. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. N. pag. Print. Marcelli, Enrico. "Immigrants and the U.S. Labor Market." NACLA Report on the Americas 38.5 (2005): 47. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 June 2010. Passel, Jeffrey, and D'Vera Cohn. "Trends in Unauthorized Immigration." Pew Hispanic Center. 02 Oct. 2008. Web. 14 June 2010. . Preston, Meredith. "Economy factors into immigration debate." American City & County 121.6 (2006): 8-10. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 June 2010. Rivera-Batiz, Francisco L. "Undocumented workers in the labor market: An analysis of the earnings of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States." Journal of Population Economics 12.1 (1999): 91. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 June 2010. Schlussel, Debbie. "The $$$ Illegal Aliens Send “Home”: Draining Our Economy to Prop up Terrorism, Failed Gov’ts." Debbie Schlussel. 01 Nov. 2006. Web. 14 June 2010. . Sum, Andrew, Ishwar Khatiwada, and Paul Harrington. "The Impact of New Immigrants on Young Native-Born Workers, 2000-2005." Center for Immigration Studies. Sept. 2006. Web. 08 June 2010. . Watanabe, Teresa. "Illegal Immigrant Population in U.S. Plummets, According to a New Report | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times." Top of the Ticket | Tony Pierce Chats with The Ticket about The Ticket, Obama, Ron Paul and a Couple Other Things | Los Angeles Times. 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 14 June 2010. . Read More