Immigration and the US Economy

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Introduction Contd...

Economists have always been interested in understanding the role of immigrants (foreign-born persons) and the part they play in the economy of the host country. For them, the US with its history of immigration, offered the ideal opportunity to study the economic implications of a continuous flow of immigrants. Large-scale immigration into North America started in the 16th century, with people coming in from Europe. Hordes of immigrants populated the towns, cities, and villages of the country and took up jobs as laborers, farmers, physicians, etc. Until 1882, the US authorities did not restrict the entry of immigrants.

However, with the rapid increase in population, the US government decided to regulate immigration and a new immigration policy was implemented. Over the years, the US government introduced different acts in its efforts to control immigration. Nonetheless, as of 2000, immigrants constituted 11% of the total population of the US.

However, a majority of analysts were not in favor of further restricting immigration. They argued that immigrants had made a positive contribution to the US economy. With the decline in fertility rates among US-born citizens, immigration would play a key role in future population and economic growth of the US, they added. The US government drafted the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act to address the problems associated with immigration. However, the bill, introduced in the US Senate on May 9, 2007, failed to muster sufficient votes.

According to one section of anthropologists, the first humans entered the Americas through the Bering Strait⁵ around 11,000 years ago from Eurasia⁶. These people were believed to be the ancestors of the present-day Native Americans. However, it was Christopher Columbus' voyage to the continent of America in 1492 that triggered what later became a large-scale migration of the people of Europe into the "New World"...

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