Immigration reform has emerged as one of the most politically divisive issues in American. The critics claim immigration reform is akin to amnesty for those who broke the law in the first place while the supporters of the immigration reform claim it is only a practical step, given the realities on the ground. The supporters also argue that undocumented immigrants might have broken the law but ignoring their plight may also be no less unethical. But immigration reform should not be passed just because it will be ethically and morally right thing to do but because it will actually benefit the country in economic terms.

Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, an associate professor at UCLA, estimated that immigration reform would add $1.5 trillion to the nation’s GDP over ten years or an average of $150 billion per year. In reaching his estimations, Hinojosa-Ojeda relied on historical evidence such as higher wages, higher employment level, and higher tax revenue in the aftermath of 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). Hinojosa-Ojeda also analyzed alternative scenarios such as a program for temporary workers and mass deportation and concluded none will benefit the economy as much as immigration reform (Marquez, 2010). Hinojosa-Ojeda’s study makes sense because it is a common knowledge that workers in the underground economy are paid less than the legal minimum wage which also lowers their purchasing power. In addition, state and federal government also loses on tax revenues from their workers. Immigration reform will bring these workers out of the shadows and turn them into tax-paying legal residents. Their higher purchasing power will also translate to higher levels of spending which should benefit the national GDP.

One of the major issues faced by developed countries including the U.S. is an aging population. An aging population creates burden on national resources because there is a larger population base that qualifies for social security and other benefits. On the other hands, the government’s revenue sources decline because older workers are not quickly replaced by younger workers. Immigration reform will help the country offset some of the challenges posed by an aging population. A study by Congressional Budget Office claims that immigration reform would boost labor size and employment rate though unemployment may rise in the short term. The report also found that immigration reform may increase the country’s population by 3 percent by 2023 and 4 percent by 2033 but the additional cost of government services would easily be offset by higher tax revenues on wages (Schoen, 2014). Thus, it is clear immigration reform would help the U.S. combat some of the negative effects of an aging population by increasing size of labor force. It will also add millions of young workers to the labor force some of whom may go on to create their own business and produce additional jobs.

Immigration reform also makes economic sense because it will help improve America’s economic productivity. According to Bipartisan Policy Center, immigration reform would improve the country’s productivity by 1 percent over the next two decades. This expected rise in productivity should not come as a surprise because in addition to adding young workers to the labor force, immigration reform would also add more STEM workers to the labor force. Research studies have calculated that foreign-born STEM workers accounted for between 10 and 25 percent of growth in U.S. productivity from 1990 to 2010. Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE) reports immigrants are 50 percent more likely to start a business as compared to a native-born worker. PNAE adds 40 percent for U.S. Fortune 500 companies were founded by either immigrants or their children (Business Roundtable, 2014). Thus, immigration reform should be passed because it will improve the quality of America’s workforce and may attract even more talent from other countries. Emerging economies like India and China have population advantage over U.S. and U.S. cannot produce as many college graduates in the long term as India and China due to their massive population sizes, thus, a common sense immigration system is the best instrument to attract top talent from other countries.

The opponents of immigration reform claim immigrants steal jobs from Americans. This could not have been farther from the truth. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Times that immigrants do not usually compete with Americans for job but, in fact, they actually create more jobs through entrepreneurship, economic activity and tax revenues (Schoen, 2014). Fiscal Policy Institute claimed that small businesses owned by immigrants employed 4.7 million people in 2007 (Sperling, 2013). The fact that immigrant workers don’t steal jobs from Americans is particularly evident in the agricultural sector. Every year between 1998 and 2012, at least 130, 000 people were unemployed in North Caroline but the number of people who showed their willingness to take a job on the farm never exceeded 268 in any year. Even the higher number, i.e. 268 was only achieved in 2011 when the number of unemployed people was 489,095.

It is clear immigration reform will be good for America in economic terms as well in addition to moral and ethical basis. It will improve country’s labor productivity, add more young people to labor pool, increase wages, and increase government tax revenues. The claim that immigrants steal jobs has little merit because many immigrants either do jobs Americans won’t do or they actually create more jobs through entrepreneurial activities.