Newswise — When it comes to illegal versus legal immigration in the United States, it's crucial to consider the positive influence and impact that the nation's 12 million-plus undocumented workers have on the U.S., says Dr. William F. Ford, holder of the Weatherford Chair of Finance at Middle Tennessee State University.
"Based on the pure economics of this situation, it would be much better if we had an unheated discussion of what these people (illegal immigrants) contribute (to the U.S. economy) and why they're here, rather than just appealing to people's gut instinct to say it's illegal (for them to be here), let's round' em up and throw them out," adds Ford, former CEO for the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta.
Ford, who authored "Immigrationomics: A Discussion of Some Key Issues," an article in the October 2007 issue of the Economic Education Bulletin, says that when it comes to the debate surrounding immigration in the U.S., and especially illegal immigration, the economic aspects of the issue are often ignored in favor of focusing on the legal, political, social and cultural aspects of the issue. However, he asserts, it's vital that economic considerations related to immigration—including the major roles that both legal and illegal immigrants contribute to the labor force and production and spending—be factored into the discourse.
According to Ford's research, an estimated 37 million immigrants, which is one-eighth of the nation's total population of 300 million, resided in the U.S. at the close of 2006. Of that number, he estimates, about 12 million of those immigrants—or 4 percent of the nation's current population—are in the country illegally, per the United States' current laws.
"Therefore," Ford says, "we need to reconsider what we need to do about immigration reform and there are thoughtful people on both sides of the political aisle who know this who are trying to get it done." By the same token, there also are "people like (political pundit) Lou Dobbs who are sort of waving the red flag, saying that (immigration reform) is totally wrong and let's just throw them out and then worry about it later."
Such a viewpoint, he continues, is a "shortsighted, unproductive approach that will not work economically," he warns. And in the big picture, the immigrant workforce in the U.S. is here because there is a demand and need for them, he notes.
"I think it's a very unfortunate thing that (some politicians and political commentators) play on the instincts of some people to say (that having undocumented workers in the U.S.) "¦ is illegal, it's immoral, it's terrible. "¦ The problem with that is it doesn't take account of the economic realities," Ford says. "We need these people, they're here, (and) "¦ 7 million illegals are working here because American employers need them."
Furthermore, Ford observes, as the U.S. population ages, it's likely the need for this workforce will do nothing but increase, especially as the first wave of baby boomers reach retirement age.
"The first baby boomers, including (former) President Clinton and President Bush, they reach 62 next year. They can then take early retirement in 2012 and 2013, just four, five years from now," says Ford, who adds that as the U.S. begins getting a large influx of people in their 60s retiring, the number of people available to replace them in the American economy "is totally inadequate to keep the labor force up, to keep growth of the labor force."
Moreover, Ford reports, "The technical estimates made by Federal Reserve say the effect of that, absent more immigration, would be to reduce our growth of the (gross domestic product) from 3 percent to 2-and-a-quarter percent within the next 20 years. That's a deadly, dangerous thing for us to do when China and India are both growing (economically) by 9 or 10 percent (each year). Do we want our economy's growth slowed down because we don't have enough workers?"
The logical answer, Ford says, is no. Plus, he adds, "We know a lot of baby boomers aren't really ready to retire financially, but even the ones that are ready, when a big chunk of the labor force retires, just because they have the money to buy things doesn't mean that somebody (doesn't have) to produce the fruits and vegetables and beef steaks or tacos or whatever that they want.
"We need to have the labor force able to meet the needs of the aged who are no longer working," he reasons. "And that, too, in my judgment requires a careful consideration of whether or not we shouldn't again reform our immigration laws to make it possible to bring more people in, to keep our productivity up, to keep our economy growing, and to take care of our elderly citizens."
In short, when it comes to the debate regarding immigration in the U.S., Ford says the economy is, and should be, a crucial consideration within the hot-topic discussion.
"The problem is with the law, and the law itself needs to be changed to allow more legal immigration so we don't have so much illegal immigration," Ford suggests. "We need to meet the needs of our economy, and we can't do it with the low birth rates that we have in America and the low educational output that we have, so we need these (immigrants) and we need to reform the laws rather than trying to round up 7 million people, most of whom—not all of whom—are hard-working, decent people."
Audio is available by contacting the source.
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