Immigration On The Economy Essay

Throughout the history, the United States is undoubtedly a nation of immigrants and their descendants. Immigrants came to the United States, partly to seek economic opportunities, partly for political, religious, artistic freedom. According to Office of Immigration Statistics(U.S.), from 1820 to 2004, the total number of registered immigrants was 6986.95 million. However, during period of 1960-2004, the number of legal immigrants received by the United States reached 280,885 million, exceeding 2,757. 26 million of the first migration peak period(1880-1930).

In terms of migration origin, in the late 1950s, more than 67.7 percent of immigrants came from Europe and Canada, but during the 1980s, only 12 percent of legal immigrants came from the

For the economic impact of past immigration, the current Americans have basically reached a consensus that they have made a great contribution to the economic development of the United States. But for the new immigrants since 1965, there has been a mixed consideration, with supporters and opponents arguing and arguing. Nico(1994) summarized that, the American public opinion are generally opposed to immigrants, who believe that immigrants have had a negative effect on the American economy, particularly with the influx of less-skilled relatives of immigrants, refugees and illegal immigrants.

There are also many scholars who hold the opposite view that immigration has not had a negative impact on the U.S. Economy. It was mentioned by Frank(1997), in a survey in 1995, 82 percent of social scientists believed that immigration was beneficial or slightly beneficial to U.S. economic growth. In addition, 60 to 70 percent of them said that new immigrants had as positive economic impact as older immigrants did, nearly 40 percent believed that the number of legal immigrants should be increased, while only 20 percent said they should be

Samuel.2006). Huddle(1990) also found that at all levels of government, the financial losses caused by immigration amounted to $42.5 billion. However, Fix and Passel in urban research institutes challenge this conclusion. They argue that these studies, in particular, are overestimating the welfare consumed by immigrants and underestimating the economic benefits generated through immigration population. According to their research, immigration contributed $50 billion in revenue, which is more than the estimated net loss of $42.5 billion from