Living in America

Introduction

Many people emigrate from their home countries to the United States of America for different reasons. There are people who immigrate to the United States in search of better living standards while others go in search of employment and a more advanced form of education. There are some immigrants who move to the US illegally while others are their unlawfully. The legal immigrants to the United States live by the rules and regulations that guide the foreigners living in the United States. The foreigners are entitled to freedom, education, good health and fair wages in their places of work. These people living in the United States have better opportunities as compared to those living in their home countries. The immigrants in the United States gain in terms of a more advanced education system and they improve economically.

This can be illustrated in the diagram below. In the diagram, it is clear that the number of employees in Texas increased by 733,000 between 2005 and 2005. In addition the number of employees who are immigrants in Texas increased by more than 388,000 which was recorded as the second largest increment in the entire United States of America (Sum, et al., 2006).

Table Courtesy: Center for Immigration Studies, http://www.cis.org/articles/2006/back806.html

The chart below illustrates the difference in the number of immigrants working in the United States of America and the veterans of the country. It is evident from the chart that the number of immigrants exceeds the number of the American employees. (Center for Immigration Studies, 1994).

This is more advantageous to the United States Government for it spends less money on paying wages for the employees who are immigrants from the developing countries. The presence of the immigrants in America has also led to a decline in price levels of certain commodities like fruits and vegetables. They have also appreciated the value of the American properties such as housing and land. The chart below illustrates the increase in value of other resources in the United States as the wage price decreases. In the diagram, the blue line indicates the wage rate whereas the pink line represents the other resources that are available in the economy such as land and housing (Castles, 2004).

The presence of these immigrants can benefit the economy of the United States in terms of invention and innovation. As a result, it will be beneficial not only to the immigrants but also to all the Americans. This will improve the living standards of the American residents. In the graph below, it shows the negative effect that a decline in the immigrants had in the US where the country experienced a recession.

These immigrants have ventured in entrepreneur activities, which are beneficial to the economy of the country. Some of the immigrants participate in the operation of their own business enterprises. For instance, it was discovered that the number of businesses that were owned by the Hispanians in the country, increased by approximately 1.6 million in the year 2002. The impact that these business had on the economy was an increase in the country’s revenue by $222. The Mexicans living in the United States of America have had a positive effect on the agricultural sector. This is because they introduced irrigation resulting to an increased productivity in the agricultural sector.

The Mexicans also provided labor in the American farms and because the workers were still young and energetic, their productivity increased tremendously. This increased the profitability in the agricultural sector for the workers from Mexican were paid low wages (Jasso & Rosenzweig, 2005).The immigrants are also taught on the cultural background of the Americans, which makes it easy in the adoption of the American culture. This as a result, leads to improvement in the communication skills of the immigrants. This plays a major role in cultural integration and adaptation. A more advanced form of education improves the immigrant’s communication skills and living standards, which are used to measure the success of an immigrant in the United States (Kritz, 2002).

The immigrants in the US are from different countries with different cultural backgrounds. The table below indicates the number of immigrants from different countries who have emigrated in the United States.

Countries	1996	1820–1996	1981–90	1971–80	1961–70	1951–60	1941–50	1820–1940
Europe: Albania¹	4,007	12,230	479	329	98	59	85	2,040
Austria²	554	2,664,728	4,636	9,478	20,621	67,106	24,860	2,534,617
Belgium	651	212,894	5,706	5,329	9,192	18,575	12,189	158,205
Bulgaria³	2,066	78,029	2,342	1,188	619	104	375	65,856
Former Czechoslovakia¹	1,389	156,848	11,500	6,023	3,273	918	8,347	120,013
Denmark	608	374,287	5,380	4,439	9,201	10,984	5,393	335,025
Estonia¹	280	2,254	137	91	163	185	212	506
Finland¹	602	40,315	3,265	2,868	4,192	4,925	2,503	19,593
France	3,079	795,259	23,124	25,069	45,237	51,121	38,809	594,998
Germany²	6,748	7,105,301	70,111	74,414	190,796	477,765	226,578	6,021,951
Greece	1,452	704,679	29,130	92,369	85,969	47,608	8,973	430,608
Hungary²	1,183	167,871	9,764	6,550	5,401	36,637	3,469	1,609,158
Ireland	1,731	4,780,891	32,823	11,490	32,966	48,362	14,789	4,580,557
Italy	2,501	5,353,213	32,894	129,368	214,111	185,491	57,661	4,719,223
Latvia¹	736	6,603	359	207	510	352	361	1,192
Lithuania¹	1,080	7,967	482	248	562	242	683	2,201
Luxembourg¹	32	3,284	234	307	556	684	820	565
Netherlands	1,423	382,109	11,958	10,492	30,606	52,277	14,860	253,759
Norway⁴	354	756,448	3,901	3,941	15,484	22,935	10,100	697,095
Poland⁵	8,481	743,376	97,390	37,234	53,539	9,985	7,571	414,755
Portugal	3,766	518,753	40,020	101,710	76,065	19,588	7,423	256,044
Romania⁶	5,198	246,657	39,963	12,393	2,531	1,039	1,076	156,945
Spain	1,591	289,611	15,698	39,141	44,659	7,894	2,898	170,123
Sweden⁴	1,098	1,398,578	10,211	6,531	17,116	21,697	10,665	1,325,208
Switzerland	677	362,792	7,076	8,235	18,453	17,675	10,547	295,680
United Kingdom	13,657	5,197,150	142,123	137,374	213,822	202,824	139,306	4,266,561
Former U.S.S.R.⁷	2,588	3,749,777	84,081	38,961	2,465	671	571	3,343,361
Former Yugoslavia³	2,011	158,540	19,182	30,540	20,381	8,225	1,576	56,787
Other Europe	3,605	65,875	2,661	4,049	4,904	9,799	3,447	36,060
Total Europe	147,581	36,410,452	705,630	800,368	1,123,492	1,325,727	621,147	32,468,776
Asia: China⁸	25,106	1,232,740	388,686	124,326	34,764	9,657	16,709	382,173
India	44,859	703,339	261,841	164,134	27,189	1,973	1,761	9,873
Israel	3,126	152,473	36,353	37,713	29,602	25,476	476	—
Japan⁹	6,011	498,333	43,248	49,775	39,988	46,250	1,555	277,591
Turkey	3,657	425,601	20,843	13,399	10,142	3,519	798	361,236
Other Asia	207,413	5,010,282	2,042,025	1,198,831	285,957	66,374	15,729	44,053
Total Asia¹⁰	268,248	8,000,844	2,066,455	1,588,178	427,642	153,249	37,028	1,074,926
America: Canada and Newfoundland¹¹	15,825	4,348,541	119,204	169,939	413,310	377,952	171,718	3,005,728
Central America	44,289	1,153,217	458,753	134,640	101,330	44,751	21,665	49,154
Mexico¹²	163,572	5,246,392	1,653,250	640,294	453,937	299,811	60,589	778,255
South America	61,769	1,588,408	455,977	295,741	257,954	91,628	21,831	121,302
West Indies	116,801	3,372,716	892,392	741,126	470,213	123,091	49,725	446,971
Other America¹²	51	117,574	1,352	995	19,630	59,711	29,276	56
Total America	340,540	15,945,081	3,580,928	1,982,735	1,716,374	996,944	354,804	4,401,466
Africa	52,889	561,569	192,212	80,779	28,954	14,092	7,367	26,060
Australia and New Zealand	2,750	160,870	20,169	23,788	19,562	11,506	13,805	54,437
Pacific Islands¹³	—	63,034	21,041	17,454	5,560	1,470	746	11,089
Countries not specified¹⁴	5	272,254	196	12	93	12,491	142	253,689
Total all countries	605,793	61,207,884	7,338,062	4,493,314	3,321,677	2,515,479	1,035,039	38,290,443

Below is an explanation of the numbers included in the graph above:

1. The countries that were established in World War 1 from other countries are included in the countries of their origin.

2. Until 1961, there was un-reported data for Austria-Hungary. Data from Austria and Hungary was recorded separately from 1905, before it was incorporated with Germany between the years 1938 to 1945.

3. Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro were first reported in 1899. Bulgaria went ahead and made its own reports in 1920. In the same year, Kingdom of Serbs, Slovenes and Croats and since 1922 it was recorded as Yugoslavia.

4. Norway was incorporated in Sweden between 1820 and 1868.

5. In 1899-1919, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia were incorporated.

6. Until 1880, there was lack of recorded information on immigration.

7. From 1931–63, the U.S.S.R. was broken down into European U.S.S.R. and Asian U.S.S.R. Since 1964, U.S.S.R. has been reported in Europe.

8. In early 1957, China was incorporated in Taiwan.

9. Until 1861, there were no records on immigration.

10. From 1934, Asia incorporated the Philippines; before 1934, recorded in separate tables as insular travel.

11. Indicates the possessions of the British, North Americans between 1820 and 1898.

12. Lack of information on immigrants between the year, 1886 and 1893.

13. Shows unspecified countries prior to 1925.

14. Indicates the 32,897 persons returning to their homes from the US in 1906.

The social and economic mobility is connected to the educational experience and success that the immigrants get from their stay in the United States. The Indians benefit from the Americans by cultivating on their land. This is because they are known to be the best Asians to have developed both economically and academically. Despite the fact that they were the last Asian immigrants in the United States, they grew drastically for they had knowledge in English. They also have good knowledge on technology. This enables them to be in a position to compete with the Caucasians. The Indians are willing to retain their social heritage (Krugman, 2003).

With such considerations in mind, it becomes important for any individual to consider whether or not to move and eventually live in the United States. Most immigrants have to contend with working in odd jobs while leaving the so-called white-collar jobs for the Caucasian natives. The problems for immigrants are further increased as a result of them not having the necessary documents to live in the United States. Most immigrants enter the country illegally and therefore have to contend with working in industries that are beyond the direct scrutiny of the government. They are, in most cases, underpaid and usually have to survive in low wages and multiple jobs to make ends meet.

In addition to poor working conditions, most illegal immigrants have to live in less than average conditions and in neighborhoods that are usually unsafe. They have to contend with violence, which is far from what they bargained for when they went to live in the United States. However, most are usually motivated by the potential for improvement, as the opportunities offered by the country are immense. At the same time, the conditions that force them to leave their home countries are usually far worse than what they experience in the United States. For most, going back is not an option that they consider and as such, it is far easier to struggle for a better life in the United States.

In conclusion, it can be drawn that there are immigrants who take their life in America as a dream while other immigrants regret to have come to the United States. They take it as a dream because to them, being in the United States has improved their living standards and the others feel that they are in unfamiliar land. The number of the immigrants to the United States has gone up to the extent that the government is limiting the number of people immigrating to their country. This is due to the increment in the number of immigrants living in the United States, as the job opportunities are also limited. Living in the US has it advantage and disadvantages. This is because a person living in the US has higher chances of improving life as compared to remaining in one’s homeland. However, living in the United States has its limitation, for instance, the government cutting off the benefits from low-income earners who have qualified for the Medicaid.

References

Castles, S. (2004). Migration: Population Movement in the United States. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) (1994). Immigration-Related Statistics—1994. Retrieved from http://www.cis.org/articles/1994/back194.htm

Dalla, R., Ellis, A., & Cramer, S. (2005). Immigration and Rural America. Community, Work & Family. 8(2), 163-185. doi: 10.1080/13668800500049639.

Jasso, G. & Rosenzweig, M. (2005). Immigrants in the United States. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Kritz, M. (2002). U.S Immigration. Michigan: University of Michigan.

Krugman, P. (2003). United States Economy. California: Addison-Wesley.

Sum, A., Harrington, P & Khatiwada, I, (2006). The Impact of New Immigrants on Young Native-Born Workers, 2000-2005. Center for Immigration Studies, http://www.cis.org/articles/2006/back806.html

Still stressed from student homework?

Get quality assistance from academic writers!

Order now