National Economic Growth and Unemployment
Literature Review
Background of Discussion
Immigration is notably considered as one of the common elements that has been given birth by the emergence of the concept of globalization. Nations have become more convinced that being able to follow the trend that globalization offers marks their capacity to become successful especially in the process of engaging in the overall principles of global development. Notably though, it could be realized that along with such desire to develop and incur aspects of progress in a national level, nations also have to face the fact that it is because of this particular principle of advancement that people become more interested in immigrating from one nations towards another to find a better source of living. Most of the time, people who immigrate have different reasons as to why they have decided to transfer. Nevertheless, among the top reasons why they do decide on such matter is the fact that they would want to find better ways of improving their status in life as well as that of their families’.
Consequently such decisions have a distinct impact on the different aspects of living of the people living in countries where the inflow of immigration is relatively high. The transfer of people from less developed countries towards the developed ones often create a mark on how the natives live their lives and how they face the need to find the employment that is necessary to help them in survive within their own nation. It is believed that when it comes to supporting people out from the actual number of the natives residing in the country, governments are tasked to have a balanced view of such situations and occurrences in their countries. Nevertheless, the question is whether or not the concept of immigration actually affects the overall economic operation and status of a country to which immigrants often transfer to. This review of literature shall try to explore the different research materials available at present to note whether or not immigration does have an impact on the economic growth of the country and the conceptual process by which the needs and demands of the natives for proper employment opportunities of the natives is given specific attention to.
What is Immigration?
In the research completed by Boubtane (2011) and his colleagues, it has been pointed out that immigration is described as the process by which people try to find a way to support their needs and their demands for a better life through transferring from their own country towards another (3). This statement further implicates that there is a particular lack of economic options in their countries of origin for them to have a basis of deciding to change their nation of residence. Trying to find a way to make the ends meet, these immigrants try to find a way to find better jobs in foreign nations that could promise them a better source of salary. Given that they are aliens to the nation, these immigrants are notably accepting much lower level of salaries for the exact same labor that the natives are able to provide the industries.
The truth is, the psychological conviction for survival they have in their minds motivate them to take every possible option of work they could take from the existing industries in the foreign nations they choose to reside in. With this lower rate, the industry operators are often encouraged to take the labor offered by the immigrants compared to what the natives offer due to the lower rate of salaries and higher rate of return for such investment in the people. While there are legal sanctions protecting the immigrants in relation to equal-salary laws, it could not be denied that their condition of living and their behavior towards work specifically put them in a position of considering what could be done to improve their lives through accepting more than one option of work. Do all these elements, including the behavior of immigrants affect the overall condition of living and economic opportunities left out for the natives to accept?
Elements of Progress Affected by Immigration
The research of Boubtane (et al, 2011) continues to add up to the indications that while there are expected to be high risk on the part of the natives living in the said countries, developed nations continue to engage in accepting immigrants to be a part of their general population. Practically, These nations believe that adding up the number of the workforce into their system of national operations would affect the overall concept of economic growth that their countries would be able to give attention to. Nonetheless, carrying the observation and operational institutionalization of how the nations under the OECD engagement are able to fare under the occurrence of Immigration in their midst. The study procures that between the years 1980 towards 2005, nations under the OECD agreement do not pose so much indication of how immigration has actually affected the growth of their economy based on a long-time span.
Notably though, there has been a significant finding in the study of Boubtane (et al, 2011) that specifies the indication on how immigration could actually affect the growth of a nation’s economy. Peru, one of the nations observed by Boubtane and his colleagues presented a negative equilibrium in unemployment when the immigration rate has been used to cross-reference the record of work opportunities in the nation. Meanwhile, the nations France, Iceland, Norway and United Kingdom present a rather positive presentation on how immigration has increased the overall economic growth of the nation. This finding signifies that when the rate of the native’s population is higher than the rate of the immigrants, the rate of unemployment among natives becomes highly affected in a negative manner as it did in Peru. Particularly, in areas where the population rate of the natives are lower than the rate of the incoming immigrants, the effect of immigration becomes rather positive in nature as the immigrants are able to fill in positions that cannot be fully accomplished by the natives.
The same idea is supported by the research of Jimenez (1997) as she tried to create a comparison between the occurrence of immigration in OECD nations and the skill-leveled labor operation in at least 18 countries. These countries were notably considered to have incurred positive developments between the years 1984 towards 2003 (13). The study hopes to understand whether or not immigration has something to do with such development. In the distinct process of observing data, Jimenez’s study has proven that when it comes to determining the impact of immigration to a nation’s economic progress, there is but low to none effect that the said concept of population development have in the said aspect of national growth. In her study, she argues that in response to the number of workers coming in, they also consume in par with the rate of their number and produce in balance with such consumption and creation of earnings for the national grade.
Pros and Cons of Immigration According to Research
Another study that tried to explore the impact of immigration on national growth of nations included in OECD agreement is that of Borjas’ (1995) work directed to determining economic benefits coming from immigration rates. Concentrating on the case of the United States, this work shows that the only result immigration has on the national aspect of development insists on the concept y which native migration has been empowered further. Natives being displaced from their own native land is one of the main issues produced because of the high influx of immigrants in the country. This is supported by the study produced by Peri (2009) as he points out that immigrants only affect the population. Their existence in a country does not necessarily affect the national economy in a drastic manner as they consume and produce in as much as the natives do. Pischke’s (et al, 1999) study on the other hand observes that while immigration does increase population and practically improve production options for the nation, the actual turnaround of GDP at the end of each fiscal year proposes that there are no significant indications that immigration does strengthen or weaken the economy of a country in high rates.
Summary
Considering the overall concept of development and progress, it has been shown through the references collected for this review that while immigration does pose a sudden change on the culture and behavior of the people [both the natives and the immigrants themselves] the dramatic expectation on how such option of movement among the people would affect the nations’ economic standing has been proven null. The reason behind this is dependent on the fact that immigrants themselves produce as much as they consume as do the natives. The control of immigration in developed nations might still be necessary to be able to protect the entity of each country especially in the option of particularly determining the concept of providing for the people based on their demands and needs which includes equal opportunities in the workforce both for the natives and the immigrants.
References:
Boubtane, E (et al). (2011). Immigration, Unemployment and GDP in the host country: Bootstrap panel Granger Causality Analysis on OECD Countries. CEPIL WP: No. 29.
Jimenez, J. (2007). The unemployment impact of immigration in OECD countries. OECD Economics Empowerment Working Paper. No. 563. OECD Publishing.
Borjas, G. (!995). The Economics Benefits from Immigration. Journal of Economic Perspectives. Volume 9 Number 3.
Ortega, F (et al). (2009). The causes and effects of international immigrations: Evidence from OECD countries 1980-2005. National Bureau of Economic Research.
Pischke, JS (et al). (1999). Wage and employment effects of immigration to Germany: An analysis based on local-laborer markets. ZEW: Labor Economics and Human Resource Services.
