Migration
Migration is the movement of people from one place to another, usually a different country. The movement into a country is called immigration, and movement away is called emigration. As it is necessary to leave one country to arrive in another, every migrant is both an emigrant (from their home country) and an immigrant (to their new country). In a particular country, the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants is called the net migration. As the net migration in most developed countries is positive (more people coming than going), it is common in these countries for people and the media to focus on immigration.
Opposition to immigration
In all times in history where large migrations have happened, at least some of the local population are opposed to immigration. Some people have argued that anti-immigration sentiment was one of the reasons the UK voted to leave the EU, and that Donald Trump was elected president of the US. Opposition to immigration has been rising in the EU with the recent large numbers of immigrants coming from Africa and the Middle East, and Australia have created island camps to keep potential immigrants away from the mainland until the government can decide whether or not to allow them in to the country.
The reasons people give for anti-immigration sentiments are varied, some based on facts and others on fictions. One of the most common arguments against immigration is that immigrants will take jobs away from the local population. There are only a certain number of jobs in the economy, and if there are more people, there must be more unemployment. This argument has been proven to be false many times. It does not work because it takes an overly simplistic view of the economy. In reality the number of jobs in an economy is not fixed. If, for example, you have more people shopping at the local supermarket, the supermarket earns more money, and might need to hire extra staff. However, there is some evidence that immigration has a small effect on wages, meaning people might earn less money if there is high immigration. Also, as discussed in Lesson 12, many developing countries have aging populations and need immigrant workers to keep the same size workforce.
Another completely false argument is that immigrants cost the country money by receiving welfare from the government. However, as most immigrants are of working age (i.e. not children or retired pensioners) as a group they pay more in taxes than they receive in welfare. A related and more realistic argument is that immigrants put pressure on local services, such as schools and hospitals. Again, this may be true in some situations and false in others. For example, in the UK, immigration has meant more students in schools. On the other hand, there is a higher percentage of immigrants working in hospitals in the UK than the percentage of the whole population, so UK hospitals would be under more pressure without immigrants. People also argue that immigrants cause more crime. Although this might be true in some situations it is certainly false in others. The final argument that is used against immigrants is that they change the culture of a country. Although this is certainly true, it can be argued whether or not this is a bad thing. In addition, technology changes culture at a much faster rate than immigration.
Economic migrants and refugees
One important distinction to be made when talking about immigration is between economic migrants and refugees. An economic migrant is someone who chooses to leave their home country because they believe they have better economic opportunities living abroad. A refugee is someone who runs away from their home country, because they fear for their life or their freedom. For example, many refugees leave countries where there are wars, such as Syria and Yemen currently. People may also escape from countries where the government imprisons people for their political beliefs, such as Iran or Cuba. Although Japan has signed a UN agreement to accept refugees, in reality it only accepts 0.1% of people who apply for refugee status.
Lesson 14 Reading
Article 14a - People voted to leave EU because they feared immigration
Article 14b - Trump's wall isn't going to stem the flow
Article 14c - Japan had 20,000 applications for asylum
Article 14d - Japan toughens screening rules for refugees
Article 14e - Suicide revives concerns about Japan immigration detention
Migration is the movement of people from one place to another, usually a different country. The movement into a country is called immigration, and movement away is called emigration. As it is necessary to leave one country to arrive in another, every migrant is both an emigrant (from their home country) and an immigrant (to their new country). In a particular country, the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants is called the net migration. As the net migration in most developed countries is positive (more people coming than going), it is common in these countries for people and the media to focus on immigration.
Opposition to immigration
In all times in history where large migrations have happened, at least some of the local population are opposed to immigration. Some people have argued that anti-immigration sentiment was one of the reasons the UK voted to leave the EU, and that Donald Trump was elected president of the US. Opposition to immigration has been rising in the EU with the recent large numbers of immigrants coming from Africa and the Middle East, and Australia have created island camps to keep potential immigrants away from the mainland until the government can decide whether or not to allow them in to the country.
The reasons people give for anti-immigration sentiments are varied, some based on facts and others on fictions. One of the most common arguments against immigration is that immigrants will take jobs away from the local population. There are only a certain number of jobs in the economy, and if there are more people, there must be more unemployment. This argument has been proven to be false many times. It does not work because it takes an overly simplistic view of the economy. In reality the number of jobs in an economy is not fixed. If, for example, you have more people shopping at the local supermarket, the supermarket earns more money, and might need to hire extra staff. However, there is some evidence that immigration has a small effect on wages, meaning people might earn less money if there is high immigration. Also, as discussed in Lesson 12, many developing countries have aging populations and need immigrant workers to keep the same size workforce.
Another completely false argument is that immigrants cost the country money by receiving welfare from the government. However, as most immigrants are of working age (i.e. not children or retired pensioners) as a group they pay more in taxes than they receive in welfare. A related and more realistic argument is that immigrants put pressure on local services, such as schools and hospitals. Again, this may be true in some situations and false in others. For example, in the UK, immigration has meant more students in schools. On the other hand, there is a higher percentage of immigrants working in hospitals in the UK than the percentage of the whole population, so UK hospitals would be under more pressure without immigrants. People also argue that immigrants cause more crime. Although this might be true in some situations it is certainly false in others. The final argument that is used against immigrants is that they change the culture of a country. Although this is certainly true, it can be argued whether or not this is a bad thing. In addition, technology changes culture at a much faster rate than immigration.
Economic migrants and refugees
One important distinction to be made when talking about immigration is between economic migrants and refugees. An economic migrant is someone who chooses to leave their home country because they believe they have better economic opportunities living abroad. A refugee is someone who runs away from their home country, because they fear for their life or their freedom. For example, many refugees leave countries where there are wars, such as Syria and Yemen currently. People may also escape from countries where the government imprisons people for their political beliefs, such as Iran or Cuba. Although Japan has signed a UN agreement to accept refugees, in reality it only accepts 0.1% of people who apply for refugee status.
Lesson 14 Reading
Article 14a - People voted to leave EU because they feared immigration
Article 14b - Trump's wall isn't going to stem the flow
Article 14c - Japan had 20,000 applications for asylum
Article 14d - Japan toughens screening rules for refugees
Article 14e - Suicide revives concerns about Japan immigration detention
No comments:
Post a Comment