Migrant Workers

Migrant workers have been a huge part of this country’s economy since its beginning. Whether it be the African slaves who were forced here and worked on much of America’s agricultural development, desperate Irish Immigrants who helped stimulate the growth of many northeastern cities, Chinese immigrants who connected this entire country together by railroads, or the Hispanic immigrants of today who take many working class jobs, migrant immigrants have always had a significant effect on this country. Whether they are an economic necessity (particularly today) is a huge question, or even whether they belong here at all or not. It could be the argument that migrant workers take away the jobs of working class Americans who were here first or it could simply be a dislike of foreigners due to their differences from us. In any event, Migrant workers throughout American History have shaped American Industrialism and agriculture and stimulated its economy.

Migrant workers throughout history have made both good and bad contributions to this country. On one hand, you are looking at a large labor force coming into the country willing to work hard for less money than a domestic worker would in order to support their families. On the other hand, you see a large group of foreigners who do not share your culture and beliefs and may not even speak your language, invading your country and taking away all of your working class jobs. This has been seen much throughout American history with the Irish, Chinese, Eastern European, and Hispanic migrant workers. The Irish stimulated industrial growth in the Northeast through a vast amount of unskilled labor workers who moved around all across the northeast and throughout the Midwest, and the Chinese did the same with the railway system in the west and helped connect the east and west of the United States together. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Eastern European immigrant were the ones who were willing to work in the factories when no one else was, and today, many Hispanics are willing to do the same. Negative effects included Irish immigrants willing to work for less than domestic workers and taking away many jobs from them, crowding the cities and contributing to slum life. The Chinese had a lot of trouble adapting to American culture (more so than the Irish), and many simply wouldn’t. One can see similar issues today with the Hispanic immigrants. Many come over to this country with a great optimistic attitude, finding a working class job, sending their kids to school, and making the best out of their situation and that is good for both them and the US economy
Let’s face it, without migrant workers; America would probably never have become the agricultural and industrial giant it is today. Without the Chinese, it would have taken much longer to connect the ends of the continent because there was no domestic labor force in the west of their size. Without European immigrants’ stimulation of urban industries, big cities such as New York and Chicago might not be quite as big and successful. And without migrant workers today working on farms and in the agricultural industries, agricultural production would slow because many domestics simply don’t want to take those jobs such as weeding, picking crops and sorting and packing. A country of our size has always needed a very large number of unskilled labor workers to keep it running in all forms of industry.

The biggest current concern about migrant workers should be exploitation. Employers will take huge advantage to the fact that migrant workers are willing to work for less money than domestic workers. So some employers will pay them the absolute bare minimum. These workers could be getting paid barely enough to survive off of. When employers provide housing and supplies to these workers, they could take money out from paychecks for this housing. Thankfully legal migrant workers are protected by labor laws so that they can be treated somewhat fairly. (Unless the workers are there illegally. Then they are not protected by these regulations.) But what if these workers are making enough to support their families either back in their home countries or in the new… but nothing else? What if you can’t provide other important things such as education to the second generation? You will end up with a lot of migrant workers and migrant families that financially aren’t moving and they will always be stuck in the lower class. This is where there needs to be improvement in employment regulations. But still, odds are either way, migrant workers are doing much better here than they were where they came from. For example, I go on Carnival Cruises (foreign company technically) every year and most of the crew such as waiters, cleaners, and stewards are migrant workers sending their money back to their home families. Their wages are below minimum and they work long hours but from what I’ve heard from these people, they and their families are doing better than ever before. What we call minimum wage is much more money than these people would be making back home.

Migrant workers have always been a large part of Unites States economics through their stimulation of industrialism and agriculture industries. Without them, we might not be quite as industrious and successful as we are today. Even though they seem to be exploited in some ways, they are doing a lot better for themselves and their families with their work than they were before. It is a good deal for both America and foreign laborers.