The New Untouchables: Immigration and the New World Worker - Hardcover

Harris, Nigel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1850439567 ISBN 13: 9781850439561

Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 1995

Synopsis

Nigel Harris's ground-breaking book examines migration as a response to changes in the world economy. He shows that, despite tighter controls, increasing numbers of workers are moving, whether legally or not, between countries. Unskilled immigrant workers play a vital role in improving standards of living in the developed world. And in turn the countries from which they have come benefit in a major way from the earnings sent back home. Arguing that few of the fears about immigration are justified, and that increased immigration tends to mean that jobs and incomes expand, Harris shows why governments will have to ensure the freedom of people to come and go as they choose.

About this title

From Library Journal:

Harris (development planning, Univ. Coll., London) is no stranger to controversy. In earlier works, such as National Liberation (Taurus, 1991), Harris developed debatable conclusions on the diminishing nature of the global social order and world economics. In this new well-written study, Harris tackles global immigration. He contends that as the world economic order changes, international migration patterns respond in the form of immigration of unskilled laborers. Harris concludes that this immigration isn't necessarily negative. Indeed, he says, Western leaders should appreciate this new immigration, and he argues that border crossings should be simplified for workers. Harris also looks beyond the West and considers immigration patterns in Asian nations. As immigrants grow in number, so do jobs and incomes. Although many people, among them California's Proposition 187 proponents and numerous Sunbelt politicians, would take serious issue with Harris's conclusions, his latest work deserves the attention of social scientists and economists. For academic libraries.
Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Harris (National Liberation, 1990) contends that we live in a time when the demands of the market are in essential conflict with the state's power to regulate immigration. The world's fluid and interconnected economies require a steady source of unskilled labor, usually from Third World nations, especially since the citizens of such developed countries as America and Japan consistently refuse to preform such work. These immigrants (usually illegal) are often viewed as a threat to the regulatory powers of their host state and its economic well-being and as such become easy political scapegoats. And Harris convincingly argues that this flow of unskilled labor is not only needed but also tends to "expand the overall economy" of a nation. He calls for changes in the immigration system, including the creation of work visas to allow these people to enter the country legally. A commonsense exploration of a reality that our political system has preferred to ignore. Brian McCombie

About this edition

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1850439567
• ISBN 13: 9781850439561
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 265