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REPORT SUGGESTS CURRENT HIGH LEVELS OF IMMIGRATION WILL CONTINUE
A recent study released by the Population Reference Bureau compares immigration levels during the 1990s to those in the early part of this century. The report says current levels of immigration are likely to continue as the revolution in communications and transportation technologies sweeps the globe. According to the report, these changes influence both legal and illegal immigration.
The explosive growth in technology based sectors in the US economy have fueled the need for highly skilled immigrant workers, and legal immigration is further increased as people across the world become more familiar with opportunities available in the US. Immigration has also been fueled by a growth in service based sectors of the economy, jobs pay low wages and often attract undocumented workers. Illegal entry into the US is also made easier by the increased availability of immigrant smugglers.
The report avoids drawing political conclusions about the impact of current immigration on the US economy, but does draw attention to some of the cultural changes that may result. Immigrants are becoming citizens at a higher rate than ever before, in large part a result of the withdrawal of social benefits from non-citizens, a pattern that could cause as yet unforeseen social consequences. Another social ramification noted by the study is caused by the increasing number of countries allowing dual citizenship. This factor may have an impact on voting and taxation.
It is important to remember that while the same number of immigrants have entered during the 1990s as entered during the first decade of the 1900s, the overall population of the US has dramatically increased, making immigrants as a percentage of the population lower today that it was 90 years ago.
The Population Reference Bureau is available online at http://www.prb.org.