© Dr. Ather Akbari
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I am currently reviewing immigration arrival trends in four countries of the West including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States over the 1979-2008 period for one of my research papers. Australia and New Zealand have experienced sharp increases in their arrival rates (per thousand population) in recent years (from 8.2 and 6.1 per thousand residents in 1979 to 21.7 and 14.9, respectively in 2008). The U.S. and Canada have experienced moderate rises in their rates (1.7 and 4.6 to 3.3 and 7.4, respectively). All countries have been experiencing declines in natural growth rates of their populations (birth minus death rates), which is resulting in economic and labour market challenges. Thus, it is highly likely that their reliance on immigration will continue to increase. In fact, these countries are competing with each other to attract talent. Immigration from developing countries continues to rise, which probably is an indication that people their feel they have a better life to live in the West given democratic and religious freedom, protection of private property and better schooling opportunities for children.
Taking into consideration that there is a high unemployment rate in Europe' peripheral countries, do you expect that the immigration flow from Europe to other developed countries will substantially increase? If so, are those advanced countries able to accept immigrants as well as ensure wellbeing of their own citizens and immigrants?
There is evidence regarding movement towards western Europe. Countries like Canada are setting up shops to attract immigrants from Europe, but we have not seen any significant increases in immigration from there yet.
Since Canada's economy proved to be more resilient to world's financial woes, has it experienced an immigration flow from the US since the onset of the global crisis? If so, what impact has it had on the Canadian economy?
There is no evidence that this has happened. Perhaps US residents feel Canada (up North) is a cold country to live in with harsh weather.
Since the Fed's primary goal is to achieve the 6.5% unemployment rate, it has introduced bold measures in order to pave the way to its goal. How the immigration reform might impact the U.S. labour market and the nation's economy in general?
Immigration reforms currently undergoing in the US are mostly to do with legalization of Aliens. Research has shown that legal and naturalized immigrants tend to perform better than illegal immigrants. Their incomes and employment rates are higher and they pay more taxes. Hence, any move towards legalization / naturalization will affect the US economy positively.