Immigration, Labor Markets, and Productivity

According to a survey in 2008, about 50 percent of Americans perceived immigration as a problem rather than as an opportunity (Transatlantic Trends 2008). Similar surveys conducted in the prerecession years of 2007 and before also showed that Americans were much less supportive of more open immigration policies than they were of other aspects of globalization such as free trade or free capital movements (Pew Research Center 2007). Since the onset of the recession of 2008–2009 and during the jobless recovery of 2010–11, public opinion about immigration further deteriorated. The idea that immigrants take American jobs, depress national wages, and threaten the U.S. economy has become even more rooted, as often happens during economic recessions. The political discourse accompanying the economic and labor market impact of immigrants is very intense and pervasive in the media but often generates “more heat than light” (Goldin, Cameron, and Balaarajan 2011: 163). Americans are not alone in fearing immigrants. Europeans have grown extremely concerned, too. Immigration flows have surged dramatically during the last 10 years in some EU countries. From 1999 to 2009, the share of foreign-born in the population in Spain rose from 3 to 13.5 percent, and in Italy from 2 to 7 percent. Other countries with a longer history of immigration and smaller flows during the last decade are still dealing with issues of integrating previous immigrants (e.g., the United Kingdom and Germany). The tone and