The modern United States attracts many people thanks to a stable economy and a high standard of living. However, many of the migrants are illegal due to the lack of official work and residence permits in the country. Nevertheless, they have a significant impact on the country’s economy, including GDP. The research question is how strong their positive and negative impact on the economic condition of the United States.
It should be said that the issue of illegal immigrants can be considered from the point of view of advantages. Nadadur focuses on how illegal migration benefits the country through increased cheap labor (2009). The market is divided into primary and secondary sectors, where immigrants without official status occupy the last niche and take on difficult and low-paid jobs. In addition, the issue of fiscal expenditures and tax deductions to the state budget is not sufficiently disclosed. However, it is mentioned that they are unevenly distributed between the federal and state governments (Nadadur, 2009). The author reveals the problem of the dual impact of the issue of migration on the economy. On the one hand, illegal migrants do bring income to the economy. On the other hand, they disrupt the balance in the labor market, displacing the population of the country, which is not given sufficient attention in the study.
The problem with illegal migration is that GDP becomes difficult to calculate. Accordingly, it is impossible to draw the most accurate conclusion about what its level per capita is. Markowitz defines undocumented residents as a semi-permanent underclass that influences the collective well-being of the nation’s population (2015). At the same time, the author of the article points out that a federal law is needed to legalize the status of people without documents (Markowitz, 2021). The article covers the legal side to a greater extent and leaves out the welfare of the country. Powell and Brennan, who define the US migration policy as unethical, as it punishes enterprises for the illegal use of labor (2021). However, both of these articles miss the issue of the budget and GDP. The question of how the population will react to the introduction of a simplified migration policy remains open. This can cause a decline in GDP and cause dissatisfaction with the fact that the state is forced to allocate significant funds for the implementation of the program.
However, despite the fixed costs, illegal migration continues to have a positive impact on the US budget. Nevertheless, despite the fixed costs, illegal migration continues to have a positive impact on the US budget. Devadoss et al. claim that strict migration controls can affect the benefits of various sectors of the country, including agriculture (2020). The reduction of the labor force leads to a slowdown in production and then the country may lose its leadership in the supply of certain products to the world market (Devadoss, 2020). Nonetheless, the authors do not mention how the migration of illegal workers can have a detrimental effect on the provision of jobs to US residents. This layer requires further research to be covered, since the country’s budget primarily consists of taxes.
All of these factors are aimed at posing the question of US immigration policy. Unregistered workers live poorly and do not pay tax deductions, while the state does not make enough efforts to retain highly qualified personnel (Kotin & Ozuna, 2012). Accordingly, Kotin & Ozuna believes that as legal workers leave for other countries or retire, illegal migrants will take their place (2012). The article raises the topical issue of the problem of taxation and the purchase of decent housing among the population without official documents. However, the authors do not consider comparing present-day beneficial effects and possible devastating effects on the US economy over time.
In addition, there is not enough statistical and informational data on the impact of migrants on GDP. This issue is raised by Borjas and Cassidy, who point out that the economic well-being of migrants is undocumented and leaves a large gap in the country’s budget (2019). Moreover, they explain the lack of statistical methods in the process of identifying undocumented migrants (Borjas & Cassidy, 2019). This is a significant problem, since even in today’s society, the state cannot calculate the approximate number of people without legal status. Thus, the distribution of GDP per capita and the cost of market services is relative and does not reflect real status. Richards, in response to this difficulty, will explain the importance of finding a balance between migration policy and wages, which will help level the economic base (2018). This will increase the motivation of workers and provide an incentive to move from one market sector to another and improve the export-based economy. However, the author does not consider the question of how this will affect the country’s budget in the long term, since such a policy should have sufficiently high funding.
In conclusion, it should be said that illegal migrants have an ambiguous impact on the country’s economy. The positive effects are cheap labor and the ability of the United States to successfully compete in the world market for the production of various types of products. The downsides include insufficient statistics on the number of unofficial residents, non-payment of taxes, and a lack of understanding of real GDP. Further research is needed to propose the development of migration policies to improve the country’s economy and understanding the long-term impact of cheap undocumented labor.
References
Borjas, G. J., & Cassidy, H. (2019). The wage penalty to undocumented immigration. Labour Economics, 61, 1-17. Web.
Devadoss, S., Zhao, X., & Luckstead, J. (2020). Implications of US immigration policies for North American economies. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 45(1), 161-178. Web.
Kotin, J., & Ozuna, E. (2012). America’s demographic future. Cato Journal, 32(1), 55-69.
Markowitz, P. L. (2015). Undocumented No More: The Power of State Citizenship. Stan. L. Rev., 67, 869-915.
Nadadur, R. (2009). Illegal immigration: A positive economic contribution to the United States. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35(6), 1037-1052. Web.
Powell, B., & Brennan, J. (2021). The Ethics of Doing Business with Illegal Immigrants. SSRN, 4, 1-34. Web.
Richards, T. J. (2018). Immigration reform and farm labor markets. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 100(4), 1050-1071. Web.