Immigration And The Work Force

Since the 1970s, the striking increase in immigration to the United States has been accompanied by a marked change in the composition of the immigrant community, with a much higher percentage of foreign-born workers coming from Latin America and Asia and a dramatically lower percentage from Europe. This timely study is unique in presenting new data sets on the labor force, wage rates, and demographic conditions of both the U.S. and source-area economies through the 1980s. The contributors analyze the economic effects of immigration on the United States and selected source areas, with a focus on Puerto Rico and El Salvador. They examine the education and job performance of foreign-born workers; assimilation, fertility, and wage rates; and the impact of remittances by immigrants to family members on the overall gross domestic product of source areas. A revealing and original examination of a topic of growing importance, this book will stand as a guide for further research on immigration and on the economies of developing countries.

First, Canada's primary source for immigrants has shifted dramatically from the United Kingdom and Europe to countries outside Europe. Second there has been a remarkable transformation in the nature of work: Canada's economy has changed from relying on resource extraction to an emphasis on manufacturing, and presently is emerging as post-industrial and knowledge-based. Pendakur combines an analysis of parliamentary debates on immigration issues with an evaluation of the regulatory and policy changes that resulted from these discussions and an analysis of how the work of immigrants changed over a five-decade. He then provides both a political and quantitative analysis by looking at issues that affect not only immigrants but minorities born in Canada in order to assess the degree to which labour market discrimination exists and whether employment equity programs are needed.

The paper analyzes the ability of a regional labor market to absorb growing flows of immigrant workers with declining levels of skills during relatively high unemployment. The impact of the size of the flow and the skill characteristics of the immigrants are analyzed. It is found that immigration is positively related to unemployment in the short run but in the long run is negatively related. Also, a higher average skill level among immigrants makes them more effective in their job search in the short run. Finally, increasing the discrepancy between the skill distribution of immigrants and that of the existing workforce is desirable, as both types of labor appear to be complements in the short-run.

The growing importance of immigration in the United States today prompted this examination of the adequacy of U.S. immigration data. This volume summarizes data needs in four areas: immigration trends, assimilation and impacts, labor force issues, and family and social networks. It includes recommendations on additional sources for the data needed for program and research purposes, and new questions and refinements of questions within existing data sources to improve the understanding of immigration and immigrant trends.

Study of the impact of the immigration policy on the labour market in the USA - traces historical trends in immigration since 1787; comments on changes in legislation from 1965-1984; examines policy reform to combat the influx of irregular migrants (Mexicans, West Indians, etc.); considers policies relating to refugees, asylees and commuting frontier workers from Mexico; gives grounds for denial of immigrant status, and estimates of the number of irregular migrants in the USA, 1974-1981. References, statistical tables.

This book represents a first effort to systematically describe the experience of immigrant women in the U.S. labor market over the past thirty years. It may come as a surprise that the United States is currently home to more immigrant women than immigrant men. However, until this study was conducted, the attention of analysts and policymakers has focused solely on the labor performance of immigrant men. Georges Vernez's analysis of immigrant women's experience is the first to break this trend, revealing a complex story that resists easy interpretation. Some immigrant women succeed beyond all expectations, while others struggle all their lives and have little to show for it. In examining the myriad factors that contribute to the success and failure of immigrant women in the U.S. workforce, this book provides a profile of their changing origin and characteristics; describes what they do, where they work, and how they fare in the U.S. labor market; and looks at the use they make of public services to support themselves.

The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration finds that the long-term impact of immigration on the wages and employment of native-born workers overall is very small, and that any negative impacts are most likely to be found for prior immigrants or native-born high school dropouts. First-generation immigrants are more costly to governments than are the native-born, but the second generation are among the strongest fiscal and economic contributors in the U.S. This report concludes that immigration has an overall positive impact on long-run economic growth in the U.S. More than 40 million people living in the United States were born in other countries, and almost an equal number have at least one foreign-born parent. Together, the first generation (foreign-born) and second generation (children of the foreign-born) comprise almost one in four Americans. It comes as little surprise, then, that many U.S. residents view immigration as a major policy issue facing the nation. Not only does immigration affect the environment in which everyone lives, learns, and works, but it also interacts with nearly every policy area of concern, from jobs and the economy, education, and health care, to federal, state, and local government budgets. The changing patterns of immigration and the evolving consequences for American society, institutions, and the economy continue to fuel public policy debate that plays out at the national, state, and local levels. The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration assesses the impact of dynamic immigration processes on economic and fiscal outcomes for the United States, a major destination of world population movements. This report will be a fundamental resource for policy makers and law makers at the federal, state, and local levels but extends to the general public, nongovernmental organizations, the business community, educational institutions, and the research community.