Originally posted by
[email protected] 23 2006, 03:10 PM
In a lot of countries in the West, the birth rate is falling, meaning that the population is ageing. That means we have less young people (In the West the average age is around 40, whilst in Africa its closer to 15) which means that Western countries need more immigrants, who are not taking the jobs off the native population, but just replacing the numbers of people lost due to the falling birth rate.
I wouldn't use Africa for a solid base on "average age/aging population," because in many countries in Africa, though the average age is about 15, average life expentacy is very low due to the AIDS pandemic. Like Zambia, where the average age is 36. This doesn't mean they have more young people then the average country, but that they have fewer mature (50+) people. Which is bad.
I don't know where you can find work on illegal immigration, because I'm not American, but here are some ideas for arguments that you could build based on statistics the American government collects. On the whole, the "stealing our jobs," thing can be argued by asserting that the economy is not a zero-sum game. The US economy is based upon the idea that it can keep growing for ever and ever, right? And that's true, though through capitalism it will only favour capitalists/priveleged people. But, to prove that illegal immigrants aren't taking jobs away, just look at employment figures for twenty years before illegal immigration became a problem, up until today, and compare job creation to birth rates in America during the period. Is job growth higher? You might find these statistics broken up by race or nationality; use those if they are helpful, since I assume the main focus will be on Latin American immigration. Provide the argument that higher levels of unemployment at certain times are due to the inherent flaws of capitalism (recessions, depressions) and the globalised economy, and if you want to show that immigration or any sort is good for the economy, provide statistics for the growth of the services sector. Does it seem to go up as immigration does? If so, you could argue this is because immigration benefits the economy. If you also want to argue about the decrease in wages, find average wages for the same periods, then discuss how wages got to where they were in the first place (working class movements, fear of communism) and argue that illegal immigration isn't the problem, but a lack of class consciousness, as well as the globalised economy allowing work to be outsourced + higher competition.
Not exactly what you asked for, sorry, but statistics are good for arguments, and even a statistic that looks like its bad for you argument can be turned around in the correct context. (And if it can't be turned around, that doesn't mean your argument is wrong, either. Not everything has to fit perfectly, right?)