Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción.Facultad de Educación.

Pedagogía en Educación Media en Inglés.

Immigrants and their influence in economy, jobs, and demography

Iris Roa.

Communicative competence

María Lagos.

Juan Castro.

Concepción, September 2014.

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According to a research made by Rich Morin (2013) USA is one of the most

culturally diverse countries in the world. During decades immigrants from all over

the world have chosen United States to settle down in order to reach the American

dream, in which every person has the right to pursue their dreams and happiness

and also achieve a better life style. However, these foreign people not only have

changed their own lives, but also they have made important contributions to the

development of the country. The purpose of this essay is to show how immigrants

have influenced many cultural aspects, but it makes an emphasis on showing how

they have changed the reality of the economy, jobs and demography.

United States has had an economical increasing due to the immigrant influence.

Stangler, D. and Wiens, J. (2014) made a research which was presented in the

article “The Economic Case for Welcoming Immigrant Entrepreneurs” that stated

that more than 40% around 500 Companies in 2010 were founded by immigrants

or the child of an immigrant. Another research made in 2012 by the same

Foundation found out that it was more probable that an immigrant set on a

business than a native-born American. Finally, immigrant entrepreneurs produced

an estimated $63 billion in sales from 2006 to 2012 that helps to the country

economic expansion, this fact shows that the country´s economy has varied as a

result of the immigrants’ sway.

On the other hand, immigrants have influenced in the labour environment.

According to Daniel Griswold (2002) there is a tendency in which foreign people

find jobs that some Americans cannot. This is because they perform work functions

at the high and low ends of the skill spectrum. Thus, immigrants could work as

doctors, psychologists, engineers among others. Nevertheless, most immigrants

perform in areas that do not require studies because of their social conditions. This

way; hotels and restaurants, domestic service and construction are the areas most

requested by immigrants. This phenomenon occurs because many foreigners

arrive to United States illegally so they do not have the possibility to have better

jobs.

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Finally, one of the most notorious changes in United Stated caused by immigrants

is in demography. The most logical assumption is that immigrant cause

overpopulation in the country, notwithstanding they have contributed to revitalize

demographically declining areas of the country. The website of the Cato institute

“cato.org” (2002) support this information presenting the case of New York City that

for action of immigrants has maintained its population. This reality not only occurs

in New York, but also in many important cities of the country. As it could be

concluded, in the demography area, the influence of immigrants becomes an

important contribution to the development of the country.

In brief, multiculturalism is present in United States as well as in many other

countries. Different kinds of people could coexist together to enrich the culture, but

the main benefit is that immigrants contribute to the development of the different

nations. In the case of United States, immigrant entrepreneurs have helped to

increase the country’s economic resources. Consequently, they have expanded

the amount of jobs because of all the new companies that they have created.

Finally, immigrants’ influence also concerns with demography. Due to the fact that

many foreigners have come to United States, the country’s demography has

increased in a positive way.

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References

Ellis, K., and Guettler, E. (). A better life creating the American dream. [ONLINE] Available at: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/americandream/. [Last Accessed 19 of August, 2014].

Griswold, D. (18 February 2002). Immigrants have enriched American culture and enhanced our influence in the world. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/immigrants-have-enriched-american-culture-enhanced-our-influence-world. [Last Accessed 19 of August, 2014].

Rych, M. (2013). The most (and least) culturally diverse countries in the world. Taken from Pew Research Center [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/18/the-most-and-least-culturally-diverse-countries-in-the-world/. [Last Accessed 19 of August, 2014].

Stangler, D. and Wiens, J. (31 March 2014). The Economic Case for Welcoming Immigrant Entrepreneurs. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/resources/entrepreneurship-policy-digest/the-economic-case-for-welcoming-immigrant-entrepreneurs. [Last Accessed 19 of August, 2014].

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