Robert Reich has demonstrated in his essay "Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer" that job opportunities for all three groups of workers has decreased. Through his metaphor of the three boats that rise and fall with the tides, Reich was able to present how the American economy transitioned from having everyone on the same economic boat to having people on three different kinds of boats, depending on their economic role, who are all trying to survive the tides that attack each boat differently. Robert Reich suggests that increasing immigration is a hopeful sign that will help save the American economy. Although most people perceive the effect of increasing immigration negatively, immigration reform could be the solution America
However, an increase in the number of immigrants to the United States will actually increase the number of jobs provided for people who need them. This is explained through the idea that jobs are not divided up among people in the form of having a fixed number of jobs specifically balanced to fit the number of American workers. By analyzing the effect of immigrants on the economy over the past two-hundred years, we can see that as the number of immigrants increased, the bigger the economy got, which therefore created more jobs. Immigration reform will boost demand for goods and services, which in return, means more demand for labor and more jobs for American workers. Immigrants are ambitious because they have gone through many hardships and overcome many risks to reach life in the United States. This personality trait is so important to speed up the growth of the economy. Their ambition is also an explanation of why immigrant children are more successful in earning their college degree compared to children who are native-born Americans. Immigrant children are also more likely to have an income higher than the income of their parents. Immigration reform will make it easier for entrepreneurs to come here and start businesses, creating good jobs for American workers. Reform will make it easier for highly skilled immigrants and those educated in the U.S. colleges and universities to work right here in America, developing the new technologies and innovative processes that make our economy more productive and more competitive. A highly skilled workforce in a more productive economy increases the rate of return for businesses and companies who invest in the United States of America, which leads to more investment in the future and a dramatic increase in
How could immigrants, legal or illegal, generate any sort of positive economic prosperity within the United States if these people aren’t even from the country. Well the fact of the matter doesn’t lie in “these people,” it lies in we the people, the people of the working middle and lower class. . “But of course, its rich business guys like me are not the real job creators, it’s actually our customers who are the real job creators. We are not the center of the economic universe, they are” (Hanauer). The previous quote comes from an entrepreneur and venture capitalist named Nicholas Hanauer, the CEO of Pacific Coast Feather Company. Hanauer takes a role as an experienced business owner in the brief documentary called “Inequality for All,” created by Robert Reich, the previous head of the Department of Labor during president Clinton’s term. Hanauer discusses “We need to replace trickledown economics with middle out economics. And indeed every place you look at on Earth where you find prosperity, you find massive amounts of investment into the middle class and the poor. Because at the end of the day, they are the true job creators. The most [big] business thing you can do is help middle class people thrive.” This quote assumes the focus of exactly where immigrants meet within the classing structure of the United States economy. As previously mentioned within the research, immigrants are filling the void of jobs and careers that many Americans choose not to undertake. This could be anything from landscaping to construction and ultimately, this is how they fill the gap into the working lower classes of the United States. But as with the colonists coming into America for prosperity by the tens of thousands, we would need a large number of immigrants to come into this enormous country to fill the job voids of the said middle
There is no denying that immigration will always be a factor in the development of the United States. Whether it is due to religious beliefs, economic problems or even war in their native country, emigrants will always come to America with hopes of starting a new life in the “Land of the Free”. Fortunately, the people who do choose to legally migrate to America are generally motivated for success and well-educated. Even the immigrants who are not well educated are motivated to succeed, work hard and take jobs in areas where labor forces are low or jobs that a native-born American may not even consider, effectively making them a contributing member of society.
In the U. S today, the approximated population of undocumented immigrants stands at averagely 11 million. Therefore, this has created a hot debate in Congress about the action to take over the undocumented immigrants. Those opposed to illegal immigrants suggest that, their stay in the United States effects U.S citizens on the job market negatively . In addition, illegal immigrants are viewed in certain quarters as takers in the sense that illegal immigrants benefit more from public resources than the american-born citizens of the U.S. However, the reality is that immigrants contribute positively to the U.S economy and pay significantly into the system compared to what they send back home.
As the title suggests, Reich's essay “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” explains the reason behind the growing discrepancy between the wealthy and the poor. To do so, he uses a metaphor of three boats in which one floating and others are sinking. But what causes one group to stay afloat, while the others drown? According to Reich, regardless of what one person's specific job is, his or her job can be simplified to fit into one of three categories: producers, in-person servers, and symbolic analysts. Depending on the category the person falls into, their job holds a specific purpose and if that purpose is no longer necessary to the U.S economy, that person, along with everyone else in that category, will drown. For the most part, his essay is still relevant to today's economy.
The lack of enforcement of immigration policies will cause the greatest impact on America’s economy. One of the most controversial topics is how immigrants affect jobs and wages. Many argue that immigrants help the economy by working for the people that will not, but in reality they are taking Americans jobs and legal immigrants that have earned their rights. The main issue is wages: illegal immigrants are desperate for jobs and will do anything. Businessmen will take advantage of this and pay them significantly lower wages. Cheap labor negatively affects other workers. Studies show that immigrants push down wages and may cause other workers to leave a certain industry.
In 2007, the White House issued this statement in hopes to influence a Congressional debate: “Immigration has a positive effect on the American economy as a whole and on the income of native-born American workers” (Pear). This statement relates to the idea that immigrants actually enhance the productivity of American workers and increase their earnings in a significant amount, estimated at $37 billion a year (Pear). This is just one way in which immigrants support economic development in the United States. Since the U.S. is an i...
First, immigrants come to the U.S. to work and bring valuable skills which help grow the economy despite the negative views surrounding their part in the U.S. economy. Since the 2008-2009 recession the view on immigration and its effects on the economy has been more negative than positive (Peri, 2012). A study done by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government found that about 50 percent of American adults believe that immigrants burden the country because they, “take jobs, housing, and healthcare”, while the other 50 percent believe that, “immigrants strengthen the country due to their hard work and talents” (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Over the past decade, “over half of the increase in the U.S. labor force,… was the result of immigration-l...
...e private sector to find new growth opportunities and create new jobs. Furthermore, America always has been, and always will be a country of immigrants. Despite that rich tradition, Congress has not updated the country’s immigration policies in three decades. However, Congress now has an opportunity to fix the immigration system and improve the economic well-being of all Americans. Failure to address the issue will have severe consequences for America’s future and well-being, and that is why how America reforms the immigration system will determine its future. The current immigration system is outdated, broken, and reveals that Comprehensive Immigration Reform is urgently needed, and is good for America’s workers and the economy. Despite the claims, complaints and the resistance of many, Americans should welcome, accept and support Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
A common argument among those opposing further immigration is that foreigners take U.S. jobs and cause unemployment among the displaced American workers. In the July 13, 1992 edition of Business Week , a poll states that sixty-two percent of non-blacks and sixty-three percent of blacks agree that "new immigrants take jobs away from American workers." This is a widely held, if erroneous belief, among Americans. However, Julian L. Simon, author of The Economic Consequences of Immigration , states:
Those who support immigrants being protected by the law believe that immigrants help the economy by creating lower wages which enables companies to make better profits. According to Becky Akers and Donald J. Boudreaux, immigrants “should be allowed to contribute to the United States economy in the Constitutional and legal precepts that guarantee all immigrants the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness in the United States” (22). If immigrants were not here in the United States, the jobs they do might not even get done by anyone else (Isidore 103). Immigrants fill up the jobs that many Americans do not want. “Specialization deepens. Workers’ productivity soars, forcing employers to compete for their time by offering higher pay” (Akers and Boudreaux 25). As researcher Ethan Lewis said, “Economics professor, Patricia Cortes, studied the way immigrants impact prices in 25 large United States metropolitan areas. She discovered that a 10-percent increase in immigration lowered the price...
The report of Robert Reich: “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” is an eye opener and a warning for society regarding unemployment that it will be facing and is currently facing due to a lack of technology and education. It clearly articulates that the jobs of routine producers and in-person servers have vanished totally as modern techniques have replaced them. The author has stated that the only people whose jobs are on the rise are symbol analysts. As stated in the report, symbol analysts are the real problem solvers. Their skills are highly in demand worldwide because they are the ones who first analyze the problem and then solve it. The Hart Report, on the other hand, also states the same problem of unemployment and the global recession which has left employers focusing on employees not only with specialists’ skills but also a “broader range of skills and knowledge” (page 6-7). The Hart Report clearly reflects what the needs of contemporary employers are, but the question is whether it is the universities or the students themselves who fail to cope with the requirements of the contemporary world which is filled with technological advancement and critical thinking. The Texas Work Source has also played an important role in examining what is actually missing in today’s generation and the reasons behind such a great decline in employment. The central
Economically, immigrants greatly boost an economy by providing new job outlets, more money to companies, and reducing the unemployment rate. A large influx of immigrants will help many companies because of supply and demand, more people equals more needs to be provided. With the average immigrant worker working at lower wages, immigrants reduce the amount of money a company loses when paying their employees. A writer at The Fiscal Times connects this idea by claiming, “Without the immigrant labor, prices consumers pay for hotels and restaurants would be substantially higher (Furchgott-Roth).” Other than keeping vacations and dinners cheaper, immigration has yielded great results in the field of education. With a majority of immigrants relocating with their family or having a family in the new country, it is highly likely for them to send their offspring to school so that they can have a good education. This bodes well for the high school and/or college they attend because the children increase the graduation rate, which is one of many factors people use to determine how good a school is. Once acquiring a higher education, many of them will decide to open up their own business or wander into the job market. The former option has yielded excellent results for the United States, with immigrants owning almost one in five of the small businesses in America (Bass). The latter keeps a
Economics of Reich “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” written by Robert Reich, describes as the title says, why the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. In Reich’s essay, he delves into numerous reasons and gives examples of each. It makes one wonder if the world will continue on the path of complete economic separation between the rich and the poor. One very important factor Reich examines in his essay is that large corporations are always trying to find the edge, whether that is new technology or cheaper wages. One may ask, how does that affect me?
Immigration poses an ongoing debate in which people are becoming increasingly unsure as to whether immigrants are benefiting their society. This paper will examine three of the main benefits of immigration: the increase in diversity it provides, the rise in skills and labor and the benefits to the economy. Immigration leads to cross-cultural integration, therefore increasing ethnic variety. This increase in diversity is beneficial as it leads to improvements in society, as well as educational development. Increased immigration also means there are more skills and experts available to the hosting countries, as well as extra workers to take up jobs that need filling. Immigration also leads to improvements in the economy as taxes are paid and employment and wages increase.
Financial independence is a destination for some, an idea, a journey, a place, or position in life that we're all hoping to attain one day. Why is it that in one of the richest country on earth that only 10 percent of the population holds 90 percent of its wealth? Is it our education system fault, our parents, or the government's fault? This question has been asked by various individuals and some societies as a whole for quite some time. In his book Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki addresses the question of why do the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.