Economic Sociology - Economic Sociology of US Immigration

Economic Sociology of US Immigration

Immigration to the United States During the twentieth century, the trend of the immigration groups was to settle in urban areas. There was much cluster in the ethnic neighborhoods with the Chinatowns, Little Italys, and other areas becoming features of larger cities. The high level of competition for jobs allowed employers to impose very long work days for low pay creating unhealthy working conditions. In spite of these conditions, the economy was booming.

The sociological debate today focuses on new immigrants' ability to find employment and to achieve economic self-sufficiency.

Side One – George Borjas came out with an essay in 1994 titled "The Economics of Immigration". Borjas goes on to say that since the 1980s, the United States has attracted "lower-quality" immigrants with less education and few marketable job skills. Borjas' estimates show that as high as 21 percent of immigrant households participate in social assistance programs consisting of food stamps, Medicaid, etc. Because recent immigrants may have trouble finding jobs in the short term, the economic assimilation can be slow.

Side two – This side takes the opposite approach, claiming that recent immigration has either a positive effect and if not, no effect or influence on the economy. There are economists and policy analysts to back this up as well. One of them is the economist Julian Simon. Simon argues that immigrants benefit the U.S. economy by joining the labor force and paying into the federal revenue system for their whole lives. By the time they receive their long-term benefits of such things as Social Security, their children will be covering these costs by working and paying into the tax system themselves.