Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Immigration in the Midwest


Currently, many Midwest cities are looking to hire foreign labor.  These cities are somewhat declining in attraction to American citizens so they are attempting to attract foreign labor.  Dayton, Ohio was the example in this article.  Dayton is attractive to Turkish immigrants.  Two years ago there was an industrial downfall in the Midwest cities and many lost their jobs and moved away from Dayton.  Since there are already low living costs and jobs awaiting the Turkish immigrants, Dayton was ready for immigration.  Their labor supply increased but the wages remained relatively low.  Dayton’s overall population is growing as well.  Advantages for Dayton are more people are stimulating the local economy, taking jobs that others (such as domestic labor workers) would not, and diversity.  Advantages for the immigrants are higher-paying jobs than in their home countries, better schools and more universities around the area, and less culture changes coming in with so many from the same area.  Dayton is trying to create community centers for the Turkish immigrants to feel welcome.  For the country as a whole, we receive gains from immigration by filling up the low-skilled work force and it allows the immigrant’s children to have opportunities to be part of the high-skilled work force.  Overall, this immigration movement has helped Dayton, Ohio, and the country.  Do you think Dayton, Ohio and the other countries are hurting opportunities for low-skilled American workers or should they shift to another region of the United States?  What impact do you think this has on longtime Dayton natives? 

4 comments:

  1. Actually lets think about this are they attracting immigrants from the foreign country itself or from other cities within the US. If it is just from other cities then this shift of labor is not really better for the country as a whole so that would mean that really nothing has changed. In fact the only thing that may have changed are wages in both cities.

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  2. Immigration to Dayton is a good thing for production in the U.S. because it increases the supply of labor which means that there is the capacity for more production. The additional labor also does not have an effect on wages, if we make the assumptions discussed in class. However, if too many immigrants were to migrate to Dayton, it may cause unemployment since there will be more labor than there is jobs. I do not think that immigrants are taking away low skilled jobs from Americans. If low-skilled labor was willing to take on the jobs in Dayton, there would not have been the high availability of jobs for immigrants to fill. Dayton natives will most likely see a stimulated economy due to the new work force. Immigrants are bettering themselves by moving to a country where they can earn higher wages and make a better life for their family and children. Since the children are growing up in the U.S. they are more likely to turn into skilled labor once they are older, which is beneficial for the U.S. as well.

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  3. Alex brought up a good point. If that is the case then I would agree that the only thing that might have changed is wages in Dayton and what ever city the people are moving from. If the labor is coming directly from foreign countries that would be beneficial for wages in the use. If production is increased by these immigrants, by working jobs that do not have enough workers to operate at maximum output, that will make wages go up in Dayton. I agree with Melissa's opinion that "domestic" workers are not loosing out on the low-skilled jobs. I am assuming that the reason there is a large pull for immigrants is because the low-skilled jobs are open, meaning the current population in the area is not interested in working those jobs. I think in this instance the immigration is helping Dayton by creating an overall greater wealth for the city.

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  4. I do not believe that Day would be suffering from the immigrants because domestically more low skilled laborers would have already moved to Ohio if they wished to attain a low wage low skilled job. I think that immigrants really hurt high populated areas. This is because there is a high portion of domestic low skilled laborers that won’t be able to attain jobs because of immigrants willing to do the work for less. Long term in Dayton the impact will show that there will be a shift towards labor intensive businesses because that is what the labor force is demanding.

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