NATHAN KISAAKYE Research Question Is immigration the major cause of unemployment in U S !

INTR"#U$TI"N Immigration refers to the movement of people into another country or region to which they are not native in order to settle. There are two types of immigrants namely% legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. Legal immigrants are the ones that have permission to reside and work in the U.S while illegal immigrants are the ones who enter without permission or with permission on a temporary basis but then fail to leave as stipulated. As of September 20 ! the USA was recorded to have had " million fewer #obs than before the recession in 200"$200%. To carter for the unemployment among US natives! the government implemented a number of mechanisms which include! ta& cuts! and decrease in government spending. 'owever! the area surrounding the immigration policy has for long been left un$tackled possibly because of the employment opportunities immigration might offer to the US natives.

&ITERATURE RE'IE( The (ebate on )mmigration in relation to employment has for long been a topic policy makers have delved little into. *adeleine +20 2, states that! -. Although numerous studies have e&plored how immigration affects natives/ wages! there is relatively little research on how immigration affects employment among US natives. This study seeks to fill this gap and answer the 0uestion of what specific changes to immigration policy could speed up American #ob growth.1

2hen looking at the concept of immigration and assessing the impact it has had on the employment and also subse0uent unemployment of USA born citi3ens we have to look at it from two different perspectives4 one perspective is that of how immigration affects the natives labor market!

considering two aspects here as! + , 5oth immigrants and natives having same skills and thus competing for 6obs and +2, )mmigrants and natives having a diversity of talents and skills and as thus complementing each other/s work! or even creating #obs using the different skills and talents that they possess. The other perspective is the role of other factors in unemployment. The role of other factors like say la3iness! idleness! drug abuse and other should also be assessed to clearly ascertain if actually immigration does play a ma#or role in unemployment visa those other factors. Statistics from a study carried out by the USA 7ensus 5ureau and applications for temporary workers show that it is to a less e&tent that )mmigrants actually increase the level of unemployment. )t is in a few scenarios! as shown by the study that an immigrant is more likely to take up a #ob that could have been taken up by a USA citi3en. The Study further goes on to group its findings as shown below in four different categories. 8irst! the study shows that )mmigrants with advanced degrees boost employment for US natives. )n all 90 States of the United States including the district of 7olombia research carried out between 2000 and 200" shows that immigrants with advanced degrees especially those in the fields of Science! mathematics! :ngineering and technology are associated with creation of new #obs and employment facilities for the native Americans. *adeleine +20 2,! asserts that -...an additional 00 foreign$born workers in ST:* fields with advanced degrees from US universities is associated with an additional 2;2 #obs among US natives. 2hile the effect is biggest for US$educated immigrants working in ST:*! immigrants with advanced degrees in general raised employment among US natives during 2000<200"=1

The research carried out also had the following findings $ An additional 00 immigrants with advanced degrees in ST:* fields from either US or foreign universities is associated with an additional >; #obs among US natives. $ An additional 00 immigrants with advanced degrees?regardless of field or where they obtained their degrees?is associated with an additional @@ #obs among US natives. The second finding is that temporary foreign workers?both skilled and less skilled?boost US employment. The data show that states with greater numbers of temporary workers in the '$ 5 program for skilled workers and '$25 program for less$skilled nonagricultural workers had higher employment among US natives. The analysis carried out showed that4 $ Adding 00 '$ 5 workers results in an additional >A #obs among US natives. $ Adding 00 '$25 workers results in an additional @;@ #obs for US natives. 8or '$2A visas for less$skilled agricultural workers! the study found results that were positive! but data were available for such a short period that the results were not statistically significant. A. Thirdly! the analysis shows no evidence that foreign born workers or immigrants hurt US employment @. 'ighly educated immigrants pay far more in ta&es than they receive in benefits. )n 200%! the average foreign$born adult with an advanced degree paid over B22!900 in federal! state! and 8ederal )nsurance 7ontributions Act +8)7A! or Social Security and *edicare, ta&es! while their families received benefits one$tenth that si3e through government transfer programs like cash welfare! unemployment benefits! and *edicaid.

To a greater e&tent immigration has been a positive factor on employment in USA. To say that immigration has been one of the ma#or causes of unemployment in the USA would be a misinterpretation and misrepresentation of empirical data and information. The 0uestion then now is formed out of two different theories4 + , 7ompete and +2, 7omplement theories. The compete theory is based on an assumption that immigrants actually affect US natives employment and wages! while 7omplement theory assumes or is based on the assumption that actually immigrants especially those with advanced degrees! semi$ skilled workers and the like increase on economic growth and employment through innovations and inventions as well as complementing each other/s #obs with the different skill sets they possess and as thus improving on service delivery in the USA. )mmigrant entrepreneurs have founded4 A9C of U.S. semiconductor companies! A C of U.S. computerDcommunications companies and 2"C of U.S. software companies.

Eegatively! there may be heightened competition for between the US natives and immigrants with e0ual skills in a specific field. 5ut on the brighter side of it! immigrants may also have different skills than American workers! resulting in a more diverse workforce! greater productivity! and higher wages for US workers. Eatives also may benefit from new #obs created by immigrants who develop new technologies or start new businesses. Also! it is a known fact that immigrants with entrepreneurial skills create #obs for natives. 5etween the period of %%9 and 2000! 29C of all high$tech companies founded had at least one immigrant founder. *adeline +20 2, states over @0 of fortune 900 companies have their founder as an immigrant or a child of an immigrant.

)mmigrants drive innovation which leads to #ob creation and subse0uently economic growth of the nation. *adeline +20 2, also asserts that recent research on the overall effect of immigration concludes that the foreign born may have a modest negative impact on US employment in the short run! particularly if the economy is in a recession! but a more positive effect in the long run. Another study finds evidence of 3ero or positive effects on the employment rate for US natives! including among less$educated natives. These previous studies have looked at the effect of all immigration on native employment. (emetrios! *adeleine +20 ,! state that the most direct effect of immigration

is to increase the si3e of the population and increase the nation/s labor force which has a positive impact on the country/s Fross (omestic Groduct +F(G, as it makes the economy larger. A country with a large labor force would subse0uently generate higher revenue in form of ta&es and this would be used to facilitate development programmes! finance pension liabilities! debt payments and other public services and goods. 'owever! immigration does lead to unemployment to some e&tent as e&plained below4 )llegal immigrants lead to unemployment due to the fact that they are here illegally and lack proper documentations thus lack of #obs willing to hire them and hence increase in the rate of unemployment. *ost immigrants are paid low hourly rates and hence many semi$ skilled or low skilled companies are willing to hire them at low rates and this leads to unemployment of the natives thus an increase in the level of unemployment.

In conclusion! ) will say that the effects of immigration on unemployment are negligible and thus immigration is good for the economy of the country and doesn/t lead to unemployment on a large scale.

(or) $itation
References . Gapademetriou! (emetrios F.! and *aldeleine Sumption. HThe Role of Immigration in Fostering Immigration in the United States.H E.p.! *ay 20 . 2eb. 0 (ec. 20 A. I www.migrationpolicy.org J 2. Laurie B., Tana B., Sarah J., Sara L, Philip N., and Tra e! R. "#mplo!ment Based Immigration$ %reating a Fle&i'le and Simple S!stem.1 E.p.! 8ebruary 20 0. 2eb @ Eov. 20 A A. *adeline Kavodny. -Immigration and (meri an )o's* (meri an #nterprise Institute for Pu'li Poli ! Resear h and the Partnership for a Ne+ (meri an # onom!.1 E.p.! (ecember! 20 . 2eb 0@ (ec 20 A. I http=DDwww.aei.orgDfilesD20 D 2D @D$immigration$and$american$ #obsL @@002;>>%;2.pdf J