What are your views on immigration?

Question

Does it really help the economy like were constantly told or is the mass influx of people every year draining it...?

Answer 1

Some degree of migration is natural and welcome. People come from other countries bringing skills with them that are needed or rare in the country to which they are migrating. It enriches life in that country.

What is harmful is huge, mass migration by unskilled or manual workers from poor countries flocking to richer countries to take advantage of that country's wealth, such as is happening here in the UK with people from former Eastern Bloc countries, under the EU "Open Door" policy. All that happens is that they snatch jobs from under the noses of the poorest British workers, claim a lot of government assistant such as Child Benefit and Tax Credits, send all their money home and place a great strain on our health, housing and education services. These people are not even bringing needed skills. The jobs they are doing could be done by British workers, so they are contributing nothing. when they open businesses such as "Sklep Polskas" they are aimed at other migrants so are not contributing to the general population and often they will onyl hire their own (there are Polish businesses and shops with "No English" signs in the window).

This sort of immigration is harmful. All that happens is that living standards in the richer country are dragged down to the level of the poorer one.

Controlled migration, however, can be hugely beneficial. Look at all the Indian doctors and surgeons who contribute to the running of the NHS pay lots of taxes and do not claim any government benefits as they are well paid!

Answer 2

I know you asked specifically about the economy but I'd like to point out something people these days tend to forget; a country is more than an economy. Economic situations change. A rampant economy can be helped in the short term by mass immigration but what about when the bottom falls out of it? Social and cultural effects last much longer. I'm against anything other than limited immigration.

Answer 3

It has made an estimated 2% temporary bigger economy ; however, the economy must be shared between more people. Increased property prices alone cancels out this marginal "benefit of mass immigration"

A big price will be paid in the future when the inevitable recessions come . Overcrowding the UK with
people from all over the world is the biggest mistake in the history what we now call the UK.

Serious scientific work has been done on this subject see:

Answer 4

Immigration really does 'help' the economy in the sense that it makes it bigger. You see, 'the economy' as you usually hear it discussed in the news, is measured by GDP, which is just the sheer dollar value of goods and services nominally produced in the US. The more people you have working, the more stuff they do, things they make, and the more they consume, so the economy becomes bigger when you add people.

If yesterday, you had 200 million people working productively and living in basicaly decent condition, and, today, you add 50 million people working crappy jobs and living in grinding poverty, you've just grown the economy some, because, even in grinding poverty, working nearly useless jobs, those 50 million are producing & consuming, meaning the economy is bigger. Is it 'better?' That's a qualitative judgement.

Of course, if you add 5 million people who work increadibly imoportant, high-paying jobs and buy lots of expensive stuff from everyone else, then you've also grown the economy by adding people.

Legal immigration strives to achieve something like that second example: bring in highly productive immigrants who are genuinely needed. Illegal immigration tends more to result in something like the first example.

Answer 5

The gov has finally admitted that the financial benefit after the added burden to our resources from immigration is about 4p per person. However as their figures are never right anyway you can guarantee that it is actually a lot less and is a deficit figure. By the time of mid century if it is not stopped immigration will account for 3 cities the size of Birmingham. Thats the projected figures take a look at 'migrationwatch.co.uk' and see for yourself. What do I think of immigration? It should be stopped NOW!

Answer 6

Hya

I am in the UK!

I think that immigration is getting out of control here!

I am looking for a part time job, I live in the South East of England but yet I cannot get a job locally as all the local businesses are run by 'minorities' they only employ there own!

I am not the only person affected, I have seen many small independant shops go out of business because an asian shop opens up and in that shop they have everything, off licence, groceries etc and people choose to go there!

People do moan alot about immigration but yet really it is our own fault - people choose to shop in those convience stores and then wonder why all the others have gone out of business!.

I have been a Labour voter all my life but I won't be voting labour again............I would rather have old labour back!

I can see our country being sucked dry and the natives ending up with nothing...........

I am in no way racist by the way!

Answer 7

As it was said, goes both ways. I haven't analysed or read things on USA's economy, but immigration does a few things. Provides labour, stimulates the labour market. Increases the population, since most developed countries have very low or falling birth rates. These two effects sprout other things, which may lead to an influx of masses or a healther economy. Depends on who is coming and how they are treated. No use in bringing in immigrants with open arms and making their lives miserable. It becomes a political question from this stage onwards and not an economic question. Depending on your level of education, i was always told to question, that includes the sources of authority, hence what the media tells you. Questioning does not mean asking people, but finding answers for yourself by yourself. If this question interests you, read the academic journal on this, read the debate in different academic papers. Read the views on popular media (news, magazines, people's opinion) and form your own opinion. Otherwise everyone who answers will give you their or a specturm of views which may not be yours.

Answer 8

Immigration is taking a GREAT toll on the economy. immigrants don't pay taxes because most of them believe it or not are illegal and they don't pay taxes, so the government loses millions of dollars. One of the reasons i think why the nation is in serious debt. The jobs that the immigrants are taking like the farms, and stuff like that, one of the ONLY reasons that they have that job is because they barely know English or they don't have a good education or both. the Asians just have some big jobs is because they work hard to get where they are, not all of them. its not like the other immigrants don't work too, but the illegal Mexicans, and the others (too many to count) have the other little jobs not because the other Americans don't want it, its because they can't find any other job. If they had the chance they would take the architect, doctors, and those kind of jobs.

Answer 9

LEGAL Immigration definitely CAN help the economy... that's why we have laws to control how many people come in. Since the laws are completely ignored, though, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is putting a huge strain on the economy.

The so-called "cheap" labor is MORE than offset by the higher tax burden we have to pay to subsidize them through:
welfare roles, public schools, public health, infrastructure, the drain on the legal system, and the cost of incarcerating some of them.

Increasing the percentage of unskilled and semi-skilled workers who must be subsidized does not grow our per capita GDP ... it shrinks it. This is because they take more out of the system than they put in.

Also, the massive influx of unskilled and semi-skilled labor drives wages down in those areas:
10 workers available (supply of labor) for 1 job (demand for labor) = lower wages.

Additionally the massive over-crowding drives rents up:
1 apartment available (supply) for 10 people who need an apartment (demand) = higher rents.

Sorry folks, it's just the facts.

I'd pay more for my lettuce if my pay would go up, my taxes would go down, my schools would be less crowded,my streets would have fewer criminals, and my hospitals would stay open.

Answer 10

Most of the supposed help to the economy is imaginary.

It is no different than Walmart bragging about all the jobs they create in communities where they have destroyed every competitive small business.

If you count all the money going out of this country, all the extra money spent on insurance, all the business which have closed their doors because the owners could not compete with illegally run businesses which hire illegals, and all of the government services, then subtract all that from the money coming in and even money saved by consumers, you will always get a negative dollar amount.

That's not helping the economy.