One topic from lessons eleven through fourteen that I found compelling comes from chapter fourteen and must deal with something that has been more recent in the United States is that of immigration and labor exchange. The new European Union immigration regulations and job opportunities have attracted to their continent a host of external migrants, legal and illegal (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). These migrants who often come from Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey have created a “destination Europe” where there are over 47 million immigrants from abroad (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).
Although Europe’s history has in fact been shaped by migration for centuries (Hall, 2019), non-European immigrants coming into the European Union Countries have increased anxieties of the cultural identities and values of those living there legally (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). From the viewpoint of immigration, here in the United States it has become a problem where millions of illegal immigrants’ floods across our border in search of a better way of living.
Like the problems faced in the United States, the governments of these countries fear that immigrants could steal jobs from the locals (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). One way to curtail this behavior would to create a better policy where these illegal immigrants could gain citizenship the proper way.
There are benefits to the immigration problem in the European Union, however. In Italy, for example, they are set to lose 28% of its population by 2050 (Hall, 2019). In order to maintain its working age population, Italy would have to start importing more than 350,000 immigrants per year or, alternatively, keep its citizens working until the age of 75 (Hall, 2019). Globalization and an aging workforce in Europe could eventually cause greater labor mobility that will prove beneficial, forcing more workforce flexibility among the EU member states (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).
References:
Moran, Robert, Abramson, N., & Moran, S. Managing Cultural Differences. Ninth Edition. Routledge Publishing. New York, New York. 2014
Hall, B., Immigration in the European Union: problem or solution. Retrieved from: https://oecdobserver.org/news/archivestory.php/aid/337/Immigration_in_the_European_Union:_problem_or_solution_.html. Accessed 8 April 2019.