Premium Essay

Should the European Government Take in More Immigrants?

In: Social Issues

Submitted By alicegevans
Words 470
Pages 2
At the moment there is a lot of press about how much support European countries should be giving to asylum seekers and refugees due to the crisis in Syria but it is also important to discuss the larger role of immigrants coming to Europe and whether European nations should be allowing a larger number into their borders.

Taking the UK as an example it could seem obvious to people that with already a housing shortage with only 100 000 new houses being built every year, when according to university research to cope with an ever growing population 240 000 new homes are needed each year allowing a large number of immigrants in doesn't make sense. In fact the governor of the Bank of England, complained that housebuilding in the UK was half that of his native Canada, despite the UK having a population twice the size. The common metaphor of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole could be applied to these facts.

There are also some more ignorant arguments often heard against immigration. One of these is that many immigrants are coming to the country to claim benefits. In fact immigrants are less likely to with only 7% of immigrants claiming some sort of benefits compared to 15% of working age Britons. Regarding wages there is no evidence that immigrants bring down the average wages of a country but figures do show that for low-skilled jobs immigrants keep the wages low.

Although yearly figures show that the populations in European countries are expanding the rate of growth is slowing down along with the fertility rate. Many countries in Europe are now experiencing ageing populations. According to the European Commission's 2015 aging report, the dependency ratio of over-65s to the economically active 15-64 age group will increase to 50.1 percent, from 27.8 percent by 2060. That means there will be just two potential workers per retiree, down from almost four. The

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

European Integration Report

...Content Content 0 1. Introduction 1 2. History 1 3. Reason for the Large Scale of Immigration 3 4. Policy and Regulation 4 5. Problems 7 5.1. Illegal Immigration 7 5.2. Religious and Cultural Conflicts among Immigrants and Natives 9 5.3. Social Unrest 11 5.4. Affecting the Education System 12 6. Solutions 14 7. Concession 17 7.1. Alleviate the Pressure of Aging Problem in EU 17 7.2. Boost the economy in Europe 18 8. Conclusion 19 9. Bibliography 19 1. Introduction The issue of immigration has been the hot debated topic in the European Union for a long time. And there is obvious evidence that the upsurge of immigration into the Europe will not be calmed down within a short time. The European Union has developed its competences in the fields of policies and regulations regarding the immigration issue. But the problems still exist and more things need to be done for creating a better balance. The report will first quickly go over the history of human migration and reasons for the recent large scale of immigration into Europe will be analyzed. After, the policies and regulations implemented by nations of Europe and the European Union will be introduced before going deep into the problems brought up by immigration. Then some solutions as to how to settle the current problems will be provided and concessions will be made to maintain a balanced and objective knowledge of the influences of immigration. 2. History While there...

Words: 6668 - Pages: 27

Premium Essay

Immigration Uk

...Ladies and gentlemen and honoured attendees, I welcome you to this European Union Youth Conference. I am Melad Safi from London School of Economics and Political Science. The topic of this speech of mine is, “is immigration good for Britain?” I will address four main areas, where immigration is believed to have an impact. Those areas are as follows economic, social, cultural and political. However before we continue, I will give you a short introduction to immigration in Britain. Since the European Union decided to include several East European countries, the level of immigration has soared in Britain. 150.000 Rumanians are believed to live in London alone, and the net immigration to Britain between 1991-2012 was more than three million.1 The massive level of immigrants has left a negative opinion about immigrants. According to surveys, 60% believed that immigrants did more harm than good, and 77% believed that a dramatic reduction in immigration would benefit the economy.2 The government of the UK has been criticised for not doing their job well enough. The public opinion is that immigration is a burden to public service and the country but that they may still be important for some parts of the national economy. Immigrants are believed important in order to take jobs that native British people do not want. According to new researches, the public opinion is mostly wrong. OECD presented a report back in 2011 stating that immigration was neither beneficial nor harming...

Words: 835 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Should the European Union Continue to Enlarge?

...FDA in Business Management European Business Assignment 1 of 2 'Should the European Union continue to enlarge?' Lecturer: Ralph Power Candidate number: 525030 Introduction During this assignment the main European Union (EU) institutions will be evaluated and how decisions made on new countries joining the EU. The implications of EU enlargement on UK businesses and related to the UK economy will identified from conducting research. The EU institutions There are three main institutions involved in the European Union, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the Commission. All these three institutions play a role in creating laws, adopting them into the EU and then implementing them into each member state and making sure that these are being adhered by. The European Parliament The parliament represents the EU citizens and is elected by these citizens. The European Parliament together with the Council, adopts or amends proposals on EU laws from the Commission. Parliament also supervises the work of the Commission and adopts the European Union's budget. Parliament also works closely with national parliaments of EU countries, which helps these member states to share their perspectives on how EU laws should be interpreted and work. The European Parliament is a defender of human rights and democracy in Europe and abroad. The Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Union sets out the civil, political, economic and social...

Words: 3102 - Pages: 13

Free Essay

Multinational Lenses on Migration

...been more and more broadened with accelerated effects of globalization and shocking September 11 events. The new issues of security agenda may be listed as immigration, global terror, climate change, energy, internal violence, human security etc. This article recovers mainly how irregular migration effects national and human security in a multi dimensional framework, from theories to the cases under several sections of the paper. Firstly, the definition and types; secondly motivations of immigration are outlined with a historical and theoretical briefs. Then the general perception on migration and motivations of migration will be connected more specific sections that are, in sequence, international lenses on migration regarding state and public securities and more specifically, the lenses of the US and European Union on migration. The conclusion part put my arguments as done during article that are both agreed and disagreed with the mainstream theories and the opinions of expert that are stated in the article. Definitions and Types of Migration The term of migration has several definitions that give almost similar meanings. Generally, in social science literature, Migration is the movement of an individual or a group from a housing unit (village, city, country etc.) to another one in order to take up permanent or semi-permanent residence. The move can be chosen as ‘voluntary’ or be forced as ’involuntary migration’. The involuntary migration occurs when a government forces...

Words: 5218 - Pages: 21

Free Essay

Crossing Borders

...century other emigrant followers of these two men began to argue that the full economic integration of world capitalism would be prevented by strife between the industrialized countries. Imperialism in this sense seemed to mean that globalization would be a task for post-capitalist society. This appeared to be confirmed by the following half century of war, protectionism and deep economic crisis until, in the middle of the twentieth century, cosmopolitan capitalism made its big comeback. Globalization is more than anything else the feature of today’s capitalism which leads many to argue that there is a new imperialism, or even that imperialism has been replaced by something else (for instance, by “post-imperialism” or by “Empire”). The real newness of the present is, however, debatable. In trying to discern the character of an age, it is tempting to argue that everything has been totally transformed and a qualitatively new epoch has dawned. It is usually more accurate to say that there are new combinations of already known things. Most of the the global or international characteristics of capitalist exploitation have existed throughout its life; it is the specific forms which these aspects assume which change and fluctuate. In other words imperialism in a...

Words: 9964 - Pages: 40

Premium Essay

Border Wall - Usa, Mexico

...English 1020 United States-Mexican Border Wall Immigrants founded the United States of America and ever since then there have been people from all over the world coming to America for a chance at a better life for themselves and their families. Immigrants from all over the world come, some legally and some illegally. A majority of these immigrants come from southern-border country Mexico. Everyday, the United States has hundreds of illegal immigrants come into the country. They cross over from the Rio Grande into Texas; they cross over into Arizona, New Mexico, and California. With all of the problems that the United States is facing from illegal immigration, maybe it is time that the American government should have a stronger form of border control. For years there has been talk of a stronger border and in some cases there has been action. However, with the opinions in favor of a stronger border security, such as a border wall, there are also strong opinions against the idea. A border wall would help the United States with security issues; it might also slow down the number of immigrants coming across the border every year. The fact is that something must be done to slow down illegal immigration before this country becomes over populated. Illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from American citizens, who at this moment during the recession need those jobs more than ever. The United States government must take action; a border wall needs to be placed along the border...

Words: 2635 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Incorporation of Muslim in Non-Muslim World: Focusing on France, Germany, Uk and Usa

...Incorporation of Muslim in Non-Muslim World: Focusing on France, Germany, UK and USA Abstract Though many European countries have large and growing Muslim minorities but since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005 the vast majority of Muslims in Europe became vulnerable to extremist ideologies. The matter of joy is that over the last several years, European governments have stepped up their efforts to improve Muslim integration. These have included introducing new citizenship laws and language requirements, promoting dialogue with Muslim organizations, developing “homegrown” imams more familiar with European culture and traditions, improving educational and economic opportunities for Muslims, and tackling racism and discrimination. By ensuring the Muslim integration, European governments have also sought to strengthen security measures and tighten immigration and asylum policies to prevent radicalization and combat terrorism. So this paper will illustrate the incorporation of Muslim in Secular Europe along with the policies of combating terrorism. Contents Abstract • Introduction • Presence of Muslim in Europe • France o Muslim attendance in France o French Efforts to Promote Muslim Integration • Germany o Muslim attendance in Germany o Germany Efforts to Promote Muslim Integration ...

Words: 5663 - Pages: 23

Free Essay

Immigrant Workers in Canadian History

...Canadian labour history is tainted by hatred, discrimination and fear of immigrant workers and immigration. This stems in part from Government sponsored racism and the capitalistic use of immigration as a means to defy the labour movement. We can start with the stereotyping and discrimination of the Irish in the 1840’s, our first large scale exploitable labour pool and move right through to today’s racial profiling and cultural unacceptance of Arabs and east Indians. Through our history the acceptance of immigrants gradually improve but even today we haven’t achieved an acceptable level of tolerance. Were not perfect but we eventually seem to learn from the mistakes of our past. After Mackenzie King and into the sixties government supported racism through our immigration department seemed on the decline. With the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms Act being signed into the constitution we took a huge leap forward. However, this doesn’t erase a past full of discrimination and exploitation of immigrants by government, employers and labour. In Canadian history immigrant workers have been racially stereotyped, discriminated against and subjected to differing levels of acceptance within Canadian culture and the working class society. Immigrant workers found themselves in varying levels of distress upon arrival to Canada, being exploited by employers, shunned by labour and oppressed as second class citizens by government. This may be considered a product of the times but the slow, gradual...

Words: 3351 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Claes

...welcome you to this European Union Youth Conference. I am Claes Larsen. I am a student at London School of Economics and Political Science. Today our this speech topic is going to be “is immigration good for Britain?”. I will talk about economic, social cultural and political areas, where immigrations probably have an impact on the society. Before we start, I would like if you could wait with the questions till after the speech. Thank you. At first, I would like to give you a summary of how the British immigration. The latest numbers is from June 2014, it shows that immigration static is estimated to be around 583.000. That is nearly a 20% incensement since previous year, were the statistic was around 502.000. Emigration leaving the UK was nearly the same as previous year, with only 3000 increasing. How is the British native onion about immigrations? In an authoritative survey were more than 20,000 people attended, 60% opinion was that they bring more disadvantages than advantages to the UK. However, overall 77% if there was a dramatic reduction in immigrants, it would have benefit on the economy. The idea with migrants was that they would handle the jobs that the British people did not wanted to do, and to a lower salary. Overall the must of the publics opinion is that immigration is a burden to the country and it is benefits, but somehow they cannot live without, cause then there will be nobody to take the jobs, they do not want. But probably are the more than 20,000 attentions...

Words: 981 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

How Does Trudeau Promote Diversity In Canada

...ethnic groups, help immigrants learn at least one of Canada's official languages recognized in the Charter of Rights and Freedom in 1982 while Canadians value cultural diversity, people wanted a definition of being Canadian that included different origins Canada was the first country in the world to establish an official multicultural policy, a lot of countries followed striked suspicion and viewed with...

Words: 728 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Discussion on Canadian Ethnic Problems and Multiculturalism

...while making sure that such events do not take place ever again. In this essay I discuss the Canadian Ethnic problems and it's multiculturalism by mainly focus on two typical examples :the aboriginal people and the Chinese who have suffered injustice through out the history in different aspects such as politics and cultural. And later ,by looking at the current situations of the Canadian ethnicity in general and going over the past decisions that the government had made, I try to suggest the possible solutions. Introduction: As we all know, Canada is a country with large immigrants. Therefore , the history of Canada is largely the history of the meeting of different cultures. As its early settlers are mostly immigrants from Central and Western Europe, European culture is playing a dominant role in Canada's culture. Since the eightieth of the twentieth century, as the number of immigrants from different parts increased significantly, the new immigrants brought in their own culture with them as well. Thus, people are now feeling more of the tensions between those cultures and of prejudice felt among these groups toward one another. For this reason, how to deal with the relationship between the different nationalities became a big problem for the Canada government. Looking back the history of the Canadian government in ethnic minority policy, I think that the attitudes of the government toward the minorities, especially visible...

Words: 2058 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

A Literature Review on Migration

...Table of Contents Table of Contents Migration Research Objective Introduction: ..................................... Part I Internal and International Migration 1. Linkages between Internal and international Migration 2. Characteristics of Migrants 3. Causes of Migration 4. Phases of migration Part II Temporary and Permanent Migration 1. Distribution of Egyptian migrants according to skill level 2. Distribution of Egyptian migrants according to Destination 3. Economic Effect of Migration 4. Impact of Migration 4.a. on the Labor Supply of Adults Left Behind 4.b. and remittances on household poverty 5. Remittances at micro-level 6. Remittances at macro-level 7. Remittances and Development 8. Volume of Remittances 9. Impact of remittances on poverty alleviation 10. Brain Drain/Gain (causes, effects and solutions) 11. Egyptian Migration To Arab Countries Part III Legal and Illegal Migration 1. Definition 2. Dimensions 3. Causes 4. Dangers 5. Methods 6. Legal and political status 7. Migration Stages 8. The gangs of illegal migration contrive new behaviors….. 9. Egypt youth migration ……….. Ideal cases Objective The whole theme of this paper is to vivid the magnitude of migration, to profile the workers who migrate, to identify the types of migration and to determine the extent to which migration affects the rate of poverty...

Words: 13903 - Pages: 56

Premium Essay

Essay On Australian Federation

...and remains a weakness in the history of Australia. The type of government that was chosen was one that was extremely thorough which has helped strengthen Australia's stability.  Sir Henry Parkes first established benefits from federating Australia which developed a shift in those in favour of a Federation. However, during the process of uniting Australia many were disregarded which caused a major flaw in the Federation that should have been dealt with at the...

Words: 894 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Shit

...Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America during the 17th and 18th centuries arrived. The mid-nineteenth century saw mainly an influx from northern Europe; the early twentieth-century mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe; post-1965 mostly from Latin America and Asia. Immigrants started arriving at Ellis Island 1902 Historians estimate that fewer than one million immigrants—perhaps as few as 400,000—crossed the Atlantic during the 17th and 18th centuries. The 1790 Act. limited naturalization to "free white persons"; it was expanded to include blacks in the 1860s and Asians in the 1950s. In the early years of the United States, immigration was fewer than 8,000 people a year, including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. After 1820, immigration gradually increased. From 1836 to 1914, over 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States. The death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high, during which one in seven travelers died. In 1875, the nation passed its first immigration law. European immigration was in 1907, when 1,285,349 persons entered the country. By 1910, 13.5 million immigrants were living in the United States. In 1921, the Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act followed by the Immigration act of 1972. The 1924 Act was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Jews, Italians, and Slavs, who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s. Most of the European fleeing the Nazis...

Words: 978 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Immigration

...Over millions of illegal immigrants have dishonestly entered, or at the same time crushed the borders of the United States. The hope of a better life and the opportunities that the country can provide, encourage and inspire the immigrants to change into American culture as well as breaking the barriers of ethnic division. Europeans, Asians, and Latin’s are the major ethnicities that drive the country’s immigrant status high, while those behind the boarders of Mexico continue to overrule these statistics. I am one hundred percent against illegal immigration. Our nation has laws that establish the right way to come into our nation to work, to visit, or to remain. As long as people legally enter our country and comply with our laws they are more than welcome. However, when they come here illegally or fail to leave when they are supposed to they have no business being here. They have chosen to ignore our laws. They take much, and return little. I am also against illegals, including their families coming to this country and receiving welfare benefits, Medicaid, and food stamps. That is for hard working individuals from this country who may find themselves in a pinch at some time or another and need support. They become criminals the moment they enter our country and they intensify that crime every day they remain here. They need to be sought out, arrested, spend some time in jail, and be deported. We have enough of our own problems without having to add the problem of millions of...

Words: 559 - Pages: 3