The issue examined in this research is the impact of immigration on domestic labor markets in the United States. Specific interests of this research are the impacts of immigration on the employment opportunities for women and minorities.
In the contemporary period, more than at any time in the past, migration is a global phenomenon. In search of employment, higher wages, educational opportunities for themselves and their children, and to escape from persecution and violence, millions of people cross international borders each year. Over one hundred million people now live in a country other than that of their birth, and millions of these immigrants maintain their ethnic identities in their adopted countries (Weiner, 1996).
In industrialized societies on average, non-citizens now typically constitute more than five-percent of the population. These large and typically visible immigrant populations are a cause of concern for both governments and their citizens. These concerns lead to questions such as: Do immigrants benefit the economy, taking unwanted jobs and providing needed skills; or Do immigrants displace indigenous workers and burden public resources in their adopted countries (Weiner, 1996)?
There are different motives for migration. Two widely applied categories in this context are economic and political migration. Economic migration refers to movement by people in the hope of improving their economic positions, and political migration occurs when people seek to escape persecution or violence. While economic motives spur most of the transnational migration in the contemporary period, politically motivated transnational migration tends to be the most acceptable to populations in receiving countries (Blanchflower, 2000).
Unfortunately, in the contemporary period, much of the purported politically motivated transnational migration is in fact economically motivated (Smith & Edmonston, 1997). People claim to ...