Immigration and Wages

Abstract

The unskilled immigrant, desiring a job either in farming or in industry, generally arrives with little money, but with a great desire to succeed. Coming from regions where he found himself in difficult conditions, he is quite ready to work for wages which, although low for the native, are nevertheless higher than those in his own country. The final effect on the mechanism of wages of the receiving country is not difficult to see, namely, the tendency to lower wages, beginning with the industry where the immigrant penetration is greatest. This phenomenon corresponds to the classic formula of the law of supply and demand.