Effects of Immigrants on Miami City - Term Paper Example

al Affiliation Introduction Migration is the general movement of organisms, from one place to another. Migrationis defined in its specific form, when talking about a specific organism migrating. For example, some birds migrate from one place to another, during a certain period of the year, maybe to get away from harsh weather, or to look for food, or to escape a clan they have been banished from. some migrations are of enormous scales, with regards to the number of animals migrating and the distance covered, and follow a certain particular pattern in terms of migration time. An example of this is the spectacular migration of wilde beeste in the Maasai Mara national park in Kenya, to Tanzania. Such is the spectacle of this migration, that it has been named the 7th wonder of the world. When human beings migrate, it is called human migration. Human migration has its history in the nomadic communities, mostly of Africa, who moved from one place to another, in search of water and pastures for their animals, as well as safety for their families and property. Most of these led to conflict with other communities, that had the same intentions. Migration can either be voluntary or involuntary. Examples of involuntary migration are; slave trade, where people are sold to go and work as slaves, human trafficking and also ethnic cleansing. Those who migrate and settle at a certain place are called immigrants of that place. When they start their migration, they are called emigrants. Some people migrate and settle into land that is already occupied by a certain group of people without displacing them. Others displace the occupants, in which case the displaced people are termed refugees. Others migrate and settle on to unoccupied pieces of land, in which case they are called settlers. Theories of migration Migration can be caused by many factors. Wars are known to lead to migrations, an example is the emigration from Iraq, to the USA. Political conflicts also lead to migrations, an example being the migration from Zimbabwe, into the United Kingdom. Natural disasters are also known to lead to human migrations, an example being the migration that was caused by the eruption of the volcano, in the island of Montesrat. The major cause of migration currently and in recent times, is economical. People migrate in order to attain economic power, in terms of finances and even education. People will migrate to go to countries where the salaries for specific jobs are high than in their countries, or where their exists a shortage of certain professionals, in highly paying countries. Their have been developed a number of theories, to explain the migration of people from one country to another. They are; the neoclassical economic theory, the dual labour market theory, the new economics of labour migrations theory, the relative deprivation theory, and the world systems theory. The neoclassical economic theory The neoclassical economic theory is the most recent theory developed to explain the labour and capital migration. It explains labour migration by arguing that it is caused by the geographical differences in wages paid for labour. The direction of migration will be towards the area with a higher wage. The wage rate paid is in turn determined by the market forces in the labour market, in that if there is more of capital than labour, then more labour will be needed, hence pushing up the price of labour. If the supply of labour is more than that of capital, then the price of labour will go down. This theory best explains transnational migration, because most countries do not prohibit labour migration Dual labour market theory The dual labour market theory argues that there is a pull factor in the labour markets of more developed countries, that will cause worlers from less developed countries to migrate to these countries. The pull exists because the developed countries’ labour market is made up of two categories; the primary and the secondary. The primary segment consists of the skilled labourers, while the secondary consists of the unskilled labourers. The theory xplains that there is usually a deficit in the secondary segment, because the natives provide a problem of mobility, as they do not want to move to the secondary segment. This makes it necessary to seek workers from less developed countries to fill this deficit. There is bound to be high prices in the secondary segment, because of these shortage, and thus migration is made more appealing to the people from less developed countries. The new economics of labour migration theory This theory explains migration, stating that it can not be looked at only on the basis of individual workers, but the social factors like the family, must also be included. The theory says that people will consider the social factoes like their family needs. If, for example, the family is lacking in financial income, one of the members may prefer to migrate to other nations, where they can seek jobs, and in turn repatriate some of their earnings to their families. Relative deprivation theory This theory states that migration is as a result of the awareness of the difference in incomes between individuals or households. Individuals with lower incomes as compared to their neighbours, will decide to migrate to other areas, in order to look for more money, to be equal or better than their neighbours. World systems theory The world systems theory takes a broader look at migration. It argues that interactions between countries or societies can cause migrations. Economic interactions, for example, can cause some countries to flourish more than the other, and individuals will thus move to the country that has flourished from this interaction. This theory has, however, been widely challenged, with critics arguing that interactions serve to limit migrations, rather than cause migrations. Migrations, caused by any of the possible factors, has many impacts; displacement of the native population, armed conflicts, its impacts can be felt on the labour market, education, social life, crime, and can even influence fiscal policy formulation. Miami Miami is a city in the united states, found in the county of Florida. It is the 42nd ranked city in the united states, with a population of about 399457. Miamis metro is considered to be the 7th most populous area, and the the number five largest urban area in the united states OF AMERICA. Miami has a very vibrant economy, and is considered a leader in finance, and many other fronts, and for these, it has earned the recognition as a alpha world city. Miamis population has consistently grown , and this can be attributed to the continous migrations into Miami, by other communities, and nationals. The graph below illustrates the composition of Miami’s ethnic composition of the population( Leonard, Bouvier & Martin, 1995). From the graph above, we note that as at the year 1990, immigrants constituted more than half of the total population of the city of Miami. The majority of immigrant population is Cuban, and this can be attributed to the aftermath of the rise to power of former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro came into power, and immediately embarked on developing and reinforcing a communist system of government. This, many Cubans did not approve, but since they could not change it in their own country, they moved out as a form of protest. They were also keen to show their leader, that they could establish economic power, out of their own country. The first Cuban immigrants settled in Miami, and were quick to preserve their traditions and identity. This consequently pulled most of the other immigrants to come and settle in Miami, thus pushing up the numbers of Cuban immigrants. Economic growth As mentioned earlier, Miami is considered a leader in many aspects of the economy. Its economy is said to have been primarily helped by a large number of immigrants, who shore up the labour market therefore increasing output and growing the economy of Miami. Currently, it boasts of an economy of approximately $ 106 billion, strongly backed by a sufficient labour force. The economy of this county has been growing for the past 35 years, and this can be related to the growth of the labour force, which in turn can be related to the growth of the population during this period. During a 23 year period upto 2005, the labour force grew by 26.8%, and the employment rose by 37.3 %. The effects of this immigration economically, can only be judged to be favourable and not unfavourable to the natives and the economy of Miami in general. Statistics show that there is indeed very minimal effect of immigrants, on native workers. For instance, it is estimated that an increase of 10% of immigrant workers in the labour market in the USA, would reduce the earnings of the native workers by a paltry 3%. This will however cause an increase in capital by about $140 billion. Several more studies have been done regarding the impact of immigration, but more importantly is their conclusion, that increase in the labour force due to immigration, boosts the economy( Leonard, Bouvier & Martin, 1995).. Crime rate Many scientists argue that there is no legitimate or proved relationship between immigrants and crime. The arguments are simply hypothetical and subjective. Those who are of the opinion that immigrants would cause the rate of crime to increase, argue that most of the immigrants have a low level of skill, and can not be absorbed in the mainstream labour market. Their skills may also be too low, such that even they get employed, they will earn a very low rate, one that would not be enough to give them a decent leaving, and would thus resort to crime. The most common form of crime that the immigrants would engage in is drug trafficking, and selling. This they believe is the easiest way in which they could get rich, in their new sorroundings. Those who argue that immigration is not related positively related to crime, base their argument on the notion that, most of the time immigrants are not just random, but rather, a select category of the community, who have a certain reasonable level of skills and education, that would guarantee them a decent job on the country where they settle. Most studies, however, find that there is no positive relationship between immigration and crime. Infact a report of the FBI’s uniform crime reporting program indicate that crime decreased, when immigration increased, between 1992 and 2004( Rayas, 2010). The results are graphed as follows: These results are not specific to Miami, but can be applied to the case of the migrations in Miami. We can therefore confidently say that Immigrants did not cause a rise in crime in Miami. At the present, Miami is considered one of the cities with the least crime rate, in Florida county. Poverty rates. Poverty among the immigrants can be attributed to factors such as race, gender, but most common of all, is the education level. Most immigrants do not have the required skills to get a decent pay off the labour market. Others find it hard to find work because maybe their system of education does not match the one used in USA, and thus they are considered not to have the appropriate skills, even though they are well educated. Others take too long to settle in, before they can start looking for a job, and this can cause them to fall into poverty. Generally, the trend is that houses of natives, are richer than the houses occupied by immigrants. The trend taken over the years regarding poverty levels, however, is the most important, and it indicates that there is an increase in the disparity of poverty levels, between the immigrant households, and the natives’ households( Portes & Rumbaut, 2006). In Miami, however, the immigrants are responsible for making the cigar industry to flourish, finding employment here, even with little formal skills. The impact on Miami, therefore, is not so great as to say that immigrants worsened the poverty situation of the city of Miami. Conclusion Miami has flourished into its present day leader city status, largely because of its strong labour force. Given that statistics show that most of the Miami population is not native, we can conclude that immigrants have benefited the city of Miami. References Leonard, W., Bouvier, F. L., Martin, J. L. (1995). Shaping Florida: The Effects of Immigration, 1970-2020. Retrieved from http://www.cis.org/FloridaImmigrants19702020 Martinez, R. & Valenzuela, A. (2006). IMMIGRATION AND CRIME: RACE ETHNICITY AND CRIME. NYU Press Ousey, C. G., & Kubrin, E. K. Exploring the Connection between Immigration and violent Crime Rates in US Cities, 1980-2000 [Data File]. Retrieved from https://webfiles.uci.edu/ckubrin/Immigration%20and%20Violent%20Crime%20Rates.pdf?uniq=fn1t73 Portes, A. & Rumbaut, R. G. (2006). IMMIGRANT AMERICA: A PORTRAIT. University of California Press Rayas, C. (2010). As Immigration Rose, Crime Dipped. Retrieved from http://asu.news21.com/2010/as-immigration-rose-crime-dropped Read More