Immigrants in California are an evolving part of the workforce whereby both employed and people seeking for employment opportunities comprise of many migrants. They constitute a larger portion of the general labor force vis-à-vis to the native-born labor providers in the region. Due to the rapidly aging population in the United States, the economy depends heavily on migrants’ work. This paper discusses the widespread utilization of immigrants’ labor in California and how their services can efficiently be supported to reduce the economic problems associated with the issue of immigration in the region. In addition, the article examines both positive and negative aspects of the phenomenon in regards to the working place environment, general society and particularly the working immigrants.
Over years, immigrants have played a vital role in the California labor force and the whole state’s economy at large. As a result, the federal government of the United States has created an advanced flexible strategy of admitting future migrants into the state of California. Currently, immigrants have vastly benefited all labor providers in California by substantially improving the total earnings of the Native Americans and generating more employment opportunities (Portes, & Rumbaut, 2006).The fact that immigrants do not have a direct adverse effect on the overall earnings of laborers in California, they have significantly improved general wage rates of all employees since they tend to compliment with the native-born workers. Further, their presence in the labor market has impelled many entrepreneurs to expand their manufacturing industries which entirely require their skills and the technical knowledge of the native –born Americans as well.
In spite of the economic prospects of a decline in wage rates associated with drastic increases in labor supply, the phenomenon will not affect the entire workforce sector due to several reasons. The migrants in California lack a direct influence on the wage levels of the innate labor providers since immigrant employees and the native-born laborers accompaniment each other rather than competing for similar employment chances. Innate workers, unlike the immigrants, usually have more advanced skills and knowledge sets, thus pursue different types of jobs with varying level of competence requirements (Van, & Bodvarsson, 2009). Therefore, the legal migrants do not expand the competition in the labor market for the innate employees and hence do not negatively impact the Californian laborers’ wage rates.
Additionally, when the immigrants tend to compete for similar employment opportunities with the Native Americans in the labor markets, the latter respond to this incident by transitioning to higher-skilled and apparently well-paying jobs. These shifts are more common among the African-Americans than the non-African American employees. This change in the labor market consequently increases the salary earnings of the more educated and experienced labor providers in California. Improved wages among the working class develops the living standards of individuals in the society. Moreover, the immigrants spend much of their incomes throughout the Californian economy on inevitabilities such as housing, transport, and clothing. This in return increases the consumption rates in the state, an indication that businesses will grow and contribute to augmented incomes for the native-born Americans (Borjas, & National Bureau of Economic Research, 2007).
Immigrants in the United States, have led to the formation of many employment opportunities, particularly in the Californian region. In other words, migrants do not displace the natives from their occupations rather they expand the industries for more jobs. The majority of the immigrants in California establish their commercial ventures, become self-employed and recruit Native Americans to work in their companies. Summarily, the number of immigrants owning small and incorporated businesses in California exceeds that of migrants competing with Native Americans in the labor market (Herman, & Smith, 2013).It can also be argued that immigrant entrepreneurs help in increasing the government’s revenue since they pay taxes.
Nevertheless, the government’s immigration scheme is dysfunctional because it does not consider the socio-economic situations in the state of California. Uncontrolled immigration rates in the United States have led to a huge surplus of poorly or non-skilled workforce, increased employment competitions and pulling down of wages at the detriment of the native-born American workers. Their widespread presence in the market attracts many industrialists in need of cheap labor discouraging many Native Americans from seeking for similar jobs. While the immigrants’ adverse effect on the economy as a whole may seem minuscule, the broad impact on the American workers at the foot of the labor market may appear substantial.
Immigrants work for less and as a result, employers see them as better workforces compared to the natives who tend to ask for more considering their qualifications, experience, and skills. For instance, in Californian agricultural plantations, immigrants’ wages are dissimilar to those of the innate laborers in the same area of specialization and responsibilities. This is due to their comparatively lower levels of education backgrounds and experience. Further, systematic evidence proves that employers in these farms prefer migrant workers to native-born African-Americans who are viewed as less productive (Buff, 2001). Thus, as a result, settlers thrive better in the labor market where low wages and discrimination of laborers are prevailing. In other words, high immigration rates in California of both documented and illegalized migrants has contributed to low-wage earnings and mistreatment of the African-Americans who are seen as less appropriate.
Moreover, immigration has augmented the supply of labor in the Californian industries. The federal government has the primary responsibility of safeguarding the economic welfares of all Americans in all states. However, the inefficient immigration system has added hundred thousands of migrants to the labor market, thus bringing in employees at a faster rate than opportunities are being availed. Besides, many migrants holding these job occupations are not well evenly distributed across positions. Further, these employment admissions are seldom based on the relevant knowledge or educational qualifications, contributing to an enormous superfluity of low-skilled employees who mainly strive to rise above the poverty line. Immigration in California has enlarged the glut of particular laborers more than others. Only a small percentage of immigrants are found working in professional jobs like legal positions and managerial occupations. On the other hand, a bigger percentage comprises of migrants working in buildings construction sites and offering maintenance services. As a result, a slight negative change in the general wage rates in the economy unfavorably affects the natives working in these less-skilled and low-paying opportunities more. The native-born Americans working in these similar occupations unlike immigrants tend to demand relatively better payments where the employers favor the non-Americans who are contented with their wage rates, referring to the native Californians as "job selective laborers."
Immigrants in California contribute to the unequal distribution of human resources in the region further causing imbalanced development patterns. Manufacturing industries are entirely labor intensive in nature, and their main employees are the migrants who are lowly paid. In other words, increased immigration in California has reduced gross salaries leaving the employers with more money which they use to pay higher remunerations to more skilled workers or plow it back into their businesses or retain as proceeds. This gradually results in vast gaps between the wealthy and the have-nots and unbalanced economic development patterns in California. Taking the cost of living into consideration, it has become the home to many super-rich people while at the same time displaying the uppermost poverty level in the country. Personal income differences in the state of California are contributed chiefly by the uncontrolled employment of inexpensive immigrants’ labor (Citrin, & Highton, 2002).
The issue of immigration in the state of California can be advocated for by employing various social controls, since once well controlled, it can result in upgraded economic performance in the entire nation. The federal government can introduce laws, regulations and guidelines to control immigration in the state. In addition, the industries located in the region can come up with stringent policies and practices meant to curb the adverse problems associated with over-dependence on immigrants’ labor. For example, the human resource practitioners should be considering the skills and competency of all recruits to prevent unhealthy job competitions in the labor market. Besides, the companies can opt to improve the knowledge and expertise of the laborers by training and educating them to acquaint them with their occupation requirements. Apart from implementing enforcement laws, the local government of California can get involved in the whole issue of immigration and solve the economic challenges closely associated with it. In this regard, the local officials can closely monitor the operations of labor intensive organizations which in the offing employ insalubrious measures in the recruitment and remuneration procedures.
An enforcement law of immigration can be introduced in California requiring the local law officers to check the migration status of individuals in the traffic stops or other similar scenarios. The enforcement officials in these circumstances can investigate and pursue alleged immigration-associated offenses. All persons suspected to be illegal or undocumented migrants can be detained and thorough investigations done to examine whether their immigration status are lawful or illegitimate. Besides, the local law officers can opt to verify the authorization of potential employees seeking for employment opportunities in California. Moreover, the federal government can require every applicant of national credentials such as identity cards and licenses to produce their citizenship verification documents like birth certificates to prove their legal presence in the U.S. The law should restrict the access of such crucial national authorizations for all illegal immigrants in every state in America.
Organizations in California, which entirely depend on immigrants' labor, can as well come up with policies destined to reduce the adversative effects linked with migrants’ labor provision. The majority of the immigrant job seekers in these companies are not satisfactorily experienced or skilled. They are therefore willing and able to deliver their services at any wage rates their employers feel fit for them. This results in many negative consequences such as decreased salaries and unhealthy competition in the labor markets. To curb these deleterious impacts, they can introduce measures to train and educate the immigrant laborers in order to improve their proficiency and general levels of job knowledge. Besides, the professionals left with the responsibility of recruitment and selection can be putting into consideration the experience and outstanding skills of prospective employees to ensure that they are suitable for the vacant position. Further, the employers can also, ascertain fair and just remunerations to all employees in the same area of specialization irrespective of their race or level of qualification.
Moreover, both central and local governments in the U.S and the state of California accordingly, can take part in combating the economic challenges related to immigration in the region. Not all immigrants in California are job seekers since some are prominent business ventures who instead create more employment opportunities. The government can, therefore, opt to offer incentives such as resource subsidies to encourage the migrants to pursue their entrepreneurship yearnings. The local government can as well take the initiative of sponsoring the programs and education requirements of the immigrants to advance their economic knowledge base.
Implementation of the above recommendations will lead to a significant change in the general economy of the state of California. Government enforcement laws will help in controlling the immigration rate in United States. In addition, the regulations will ensure that the limited immigrants coursing in California have rudimentary professional skills and knowledge. Besides, stringent federal policies will considerably reduce the number of undocumented or illegal migrants in the U.S. Both the central and local government officials’ involvement will incentivize immigrants to develop their business ventures instead of seeking for employments. Such enhancements will subsequently limit the number of job seekers in the market and the related competitions.
Organizations’ policies such as employee training and education will aid in developing the professional knowledge of the immigrants. This practice will return, increase the overall productivity of all employees in their corporations. Equality in proficiency will solve the problem of unbalanced regional economic development in California. All employees with similar skills and experience will deliver their services equally hence earn equal salaries and wages. Moreover, these organizations after putting the experience and job knowledge of an employee into consideration during recruitment, will assist in abolishing unhealthy competition between the amateurish and the experts.
References
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