Nowadays, America is home for most immigrants coming from different parts of the world. Even though immigrants integrate faster in this great nation than other developed countries, immigration policy is currently a highly controversial subject in the US. While much of the debate has been focused more on cultural issues, immigration has been favorable to the economic system being utilized by the United States, which is capitalism hence having a significant impact on economic growth. In capitalism, the ownership of capital goods lies with private businesses or individuals, and the production of goods and services depends on their demand and supply in the market.
Immigrants have played a massive role in building the US, but some politicians think they are responsible for the crimes, economic decline, and other national problems. This positive-negative view of this group of people originates from the role that immigration plays in capitalism. When there is an increased demand for workers when the economy grows, and the current market force cannot satisfy it, there will likely be a labor shortage. Thus, when the domestic personnel fails to meet the demand, the capitalist economic system requires the government to encourage immigration. It is usually not an act of generosity for developed countries to accept people from the world's poor. Therefore, migration is essential to the capitalist system as it can provide labor whenever there is excess demand (Sherman et al., 2019). The immigrants working in food preparation, house repair and cleaning, construction, and child and elder care provide essential services and lower commodities’ prices. These employees' salaries are also spent within the economy to purchase goods and services, further creating demand. In this case, native-born and immigrants benefit alike from opportunities such as employment that are likely to arise when the economy expands. In most cases, the immigrants providing these services free up native-born citizens to embark on their more paying jobs (Cochrane, 2016). Doings so, enable the skilled US citizens to focus on positions that can be more productive.
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Capitalists are always determined to reduce labor costs, which can easily be achieved by paying employees lower wages. To achieve this goal, organizations can bring in cheap workers or move their operations to areas where there is cheap labor supply. With immigration, the first option is achievable, and companies do not need to shift production in other countries. Highly skilled computer programmers, engineers, and scientists from different nations bring entrepreneurship and innovation that have helped the US build many economic sectors (Jawetz, 2019). The United States gets to gain from the immigrant workers' skills without incurring any costs in developing them. Regardless of whether such individuals cross the US borders without proper documentation, the employers get the same advantages.
Immigration has also given rise to employers with criminal minds, which they deem necessary to maintain their control. The main reason why immigrant workers are attractive to most businesses is that they are not likely to be unionized and more controllable. Employers ruthlessly exploit the immigrants through threats of deportation and criminalization and cannot fight for their rights. The victims of such pressure are the undocumented employees and the legal immigrants waiting for their citizenship to be legalized. Employers also exploit the new immigrants who are desperate for work and do not speak English by giving them below-average salaries, violating safety standards and labor rights. Some US businesses have become ruthless and see no borders when it comes to making profits.
To conclude, as much as there may be crooked ways being used by employees that deny the immigrant workers their rights, immigration has made the capitalistic system being used in the US more effectively. Immigration has provided increased demand and supply for goods and services and an affordable and adequate labor supply to match economic growth needs.
References
Sherman, A., Trisi, D., Stone, C., Gonzales, S., & Parrott, S. (2019). Immigrants contribute greatly to US economy, despite administration's "Public charge" rule rationale . Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/immigrants-contribute-greatly-to-us-economy-despite-administrations
Jawetz, T. (2019). Building a more dynamic economy: The benefits of immigration . Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2019/06/26/471497/building-dynamic-economy-benefits-immigration/
Cochrane, J. H. (2016). Trade and immigration. Blueprint for America , 109-125. https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/george_shultz_blueprint_for_america_ch9.pdf
