We Need Low-Skilled Immigrants

European Straits #30

Dear all,

With Brexit and Trump, 2016 is the year when harsh words spoken against immigrants have been followed by terrible action. And since it's impossible (and inappropriate) to counter openly racist arguments, the following discussion has been focused on immigration economics.

We've all heard the recurrent economic arguments against welcoming foreign workers. Immigrants supposedly take the jobs of local workers. Also, they join Karl Marx's "reserve army of labor", thus bringing wages down for all workers. This Marxist argument actually explains why big business has historically been in favor of more immigration, as noted in John B. Judis's latest book on populism.

On the other side are the arguments in favor of immigration. One is that in an adverse demographic context such as ours in the West, immigrants increase economic output. Another is that immigrants are more entrepreneurial, thus contributing to a more innovation-intensive economic growth. That’s because immigrants face so ma…