Immigration is part of our identity. Yet continually this is distorted through emotive, blinkered and uninformed debate. Because it is relatively easy to control, immigration has become a target of blame for complex and challenging social and economic questions. For some, migrants personify contemporary problems - symptomatic of mainstream anxiety about the future. We have heard much about the perceived costs of our immigration program, but remarkably little about its benefits and how we might extend them.
Many concerns relate to the economy.
There are indications, moreover, that it has done some good, in terms of its evidently favourable, albeit small, effects on the unemployment rate and average income. Perhaps the most common complaint is that 'migrants are taking our jobs'. Foster shows the effect of immigration on unemployment is negligible and that migrants create at least as many jobs as they fill. Migrants may increase unemployment in certain regions or among certain occupations during a recession, but this is offset by their raising the overall level of demand, particularly for housing and household-related goods and services. This promotes both a higher level and a wider range of goods and services produced, stimulating the economy and job growth.