Reflection on the past provides a path for the future

History has taught us that immigration can meet immediate economic demands while enriching the future. Let us step back from the emotions of today and reflect on our past as a nation of immigrants.

Many of us are the products of the great wave of immigration that hit the United States at the turn of the 19th century. In my mother’s family, my great grandfather, grandfather, grandmother and great uncle were part of that wave - all arriving at Ellis Island from Serbia between 1907 and 1922.

Other more distant relatives made this journey as well. They were minimally educated. They did not speak, read or write English. They left behind family, friends and the lives they had known because they saw opportunities for a better life here. None ever returned to Serbia, even for a visit. Poverty and some sense of desperation caused them to take risks and chart a new and frightening course in an unfamiliar country.

They relocated from their village to Northern Minnesota. The men found work in the mines on what was then the Cuyuna Iron Range. The mines also attracted immigrants from Finland, Germany and other Northern European countries. The mines in which they broke their backs against stone produced the steel that helped build the nation and win a world war.

They took jobs no one else wanted. The U.S. economy was expanding and there simply were not enough native-born or naturalized citizens to fill the demands of a burgeoning industrial nation. Between 1892 and 1925 nearly 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island. Around this period immigration averaged roughly one-fifth of the nation’s population growth.

As an economist, I find striking parallels between the “Ellis Island” era of immigration and today. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that between 2002 and 2012 the U.S. economy will generate about 56 million new jobs. Half will require no more than a high school education (see Foreign Affairs, Tamar Jacoby, November/December 2006). At the same time, the largest generation ever to occupy the American workforce B the baby boomers B will retire.

The message is clear: There will not be enough workers to fill this country’s emerging needs. We can look at the Ellis Island era and find a solution. Like my ancestors, many of those immigrants were poorly educated and filled low-level jobs. Yet their contributions were priceless. Many of their children and their children's children have made profound contributions to this country.

Thus, it’s reasonable to assume today’s immigrants will contribute likewise. In many areas the “help wanted” sign already is out. Just as my ancestors responded to that sign via legal immigration 100 years ago, others are responding today. Without an orderly and practical immigration policy, illegal immigration will continue because of the continuing push-pull factors in the countries involved.

None can say for certain what the country would look like today had the gates at Ellis Island closed and the waves of immigration in the latter part of the 19th and early 20th centuries not occurred. Undoubtedly we would be much poorer culturally and possibly economically, too, because without the labor of those immigrants much of the industrial progress of that period might have been stifled.

We should consider this past. It could help us shape a better economic future.

Michael V. Martin received a bachelor's degree in business and economics and a master's degree in economics at Mankato State College (Minnesota State University) in Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. in applied economics from the University of Minnesota in 1977. His areas of specialization include international trade and public policy.