Summary Of The Costs And Benefits Of Immigration

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Despite the longevity of immigration in the United States, the effects that come from it continue to be an area of discussion to this day. Immigration can be defined as the process of living permanently in another country, in this case, the United States. Since earlier centuries, there have been groups of people with a strong sense of nativism who argue immigration has negative impacts on the U.S., while other groups of people argue in favor of immigration. One of the most highly debated issues within the topic of immigration is how it affects the economy. However, all immigrants are crucial and beneficial to the US economy because they contribute more to government welfare programs than they take out, work crucial, undesirable hard-labor jobs …show more content…
An increase in GDP is a sign the economy is doing well; there are many jobs available, and people have more money. In contrast, a low GDP indicates the economy is worsening, fewer jobs are available, and more people are struggling financially. Therefore, since immigrants are increasing the GDP by billions, they are making the US economy healthier. For these reasons, it is undeniable that immigrants improve the economy by providing the means for job diversity, labor, and economic growth. However, there is still some belief that immigrants lead to a bad economy. They believe they are the basis of wage drops and unemployment among native-born Americans, which are all signs of a bad economy. In the article “The Costs and Benefits of Immigration,” the author claims, “There is evidence of negative wage effects for native-born Americans without a high school diploma. For these individuals, yearly wages dropped 1.1 percent due to …show more content…
Under these circumstances, it’s hard to prove there is actually a disadvantage for all native residents, as this argument states. As to the concerns about job competition among native-born Americans, evidence has also debunked this myth. In “Economic Impact of Immigration in the Twenty-First Century,” the authors mention, “The 2016 NASEM report noted no evidence was found that immigrants took jobs away from native-born workers or had a significant negative effect on their wages” (“Economic Impact of Immigration in the Twenty-First Century” 3). Therefore, although their evidence is partially true and there is an impact on wages, it only affects a small group of people slightly, and overall, employment for native-born Americans is not at risk. Ultimately, more evidence shows immigrants provide more positive impacts on the overall U.S. economy than negative impacts. In conclusion, immigrants provide the United States with the ability to facilitate a good economy. By contributing more to welfare programs than they will ever be able to take out, native-born citizens have more money to be allotted to them by the