Workforce Experiences Of Recent Immigrants To The U.S. From Africa

Assigned Paper Topics Group 1 Name Institution Affiliation Abstract People at times leave their countries of birth and origin and seek permanent residence in foreign countries for a number or reasons. They are known as immigrants. There are many immigrants who have settled in the US with reports indicating that foreign born immigrants make up more than 20 percent of the US population who came to look for employment and build better lives for themselves. The immigrants usually come from Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa to search for the American dream and their numbers has been increasing over the years. They go through challenging experiences in their endeavors to succeed in a hostile environment. The paper purports to go through the struggles of immigrants and more specifically African immigrants through their life and work experiences of recent immigrants to the United States as recorded in various articles. Immigrants in the United States The United States has the largest number of immigrants that contribute to its cultural changes and population growth. Research has also shown that in a group of eight people one is likely to be an immigrant or a US citizen with at least one immigrant parent. Most come to escape the harsh realities in their countries and to pursue better education opportunities(Djamba, 1999). However, the majority come to America to seek employment considering the many opportunities for unskilled laborers in the United States in the many industries in the country. There are many industries and factories that hire people on the daily and on short term renewable contracts with immigrants making a significant share of the workforce. Reports indicate that the immigrants make up over 50 percent of all the workers in fishing, farming and forestry industries. Taxes collected from the immigrants are integral in the economic growth of the country. They work in many sectors including construction, health care, and hospitality among others and are faced with a magnitude of challenges including poor working conditions and low wages. Discussion The demographics of the United States in regards to race and ethnicity have recorded dramatic changes over the years. It’s noted that the numbers of African American primarily grew from the 1620’s after the implementation of slave trade as most Africans were forcefully brought and sold in America to tend the fields and work in their “American Masters” houses. After the abolition of slavery, the Africans acquired American citizenship and settled around America. “The new wave of African immigrants in the United States” is an article Holly E Reed and examines the characteristics of African immigrants in comparison to the native born US citizen using data from the census and American community survey. It focuses on trends of Africans born in the US and living in New York, which is home to many African immigrants. It examines the paradox between higher levels of education and greater levels of poverty among African immigrants and native born African Americans (Holly, 2001). The author takes note of the significance of Barrack Obama’s presidential victory where a large number of African foreign-born came out to vote for one of their own in whom they put all their hopes. A son of a Kenyan immigrant Barrack Obama is the perfect example of an African American born in the United States and who had overcome all the racial challenges and made something of himself. He attributes the growing numbers of African immigrants into the US to be as a result of: * Increased population growth in African countries. * Political instability that poses great threats to their lives in many African countries. * Africa friendly US immigration policies that have allowed many African families to relocate and settle in the US. * Tight immigration policies by many European countries have made the US the perfect destination for many Africans (Holly, 2001). The African immigrants, mostly settle in metropolitan areas such as New York, Washington and Los Angeles. The high cost of living in these urban cities has over time driven the African immigrants to relocate to suburbs and smaller cities. They are, however segregated from the native whites and even the native blacks and immigrants of Afro-Caribbean origin and therefore live in ethnic enclaves within the metropolitan cities. The article also notes that most of the Africans had good educational backgrounds with a large percent having attained high school education (Djamba, 1999). The friendly immigration policies have contributed to what the author terms as a “chain migration” characterized by immigrants and native born Americans bringing their relatives and immediate family members into the US. These relaxed policies have contributed the population of African immigrants growing by over ten folds since 1980 with the largest percentage of African immigrants coming from West, East and North Africa and specifically from Nigeria, Ghana, Somalia, Kenya, Morocco and Liberia. Nigeria tops the list as it has the largest population in Africa and many people come to America because of the limited resources in their country. Immigrants from Somalia and Liberia are mostly refugees escaping the political instabilities in their countries. In addition, most of these African countries are tied to the US because of colonization and their people speak English fluently and as a result it’s very easy for them to settle. He shares that the increased immigration will result in their slow integration into the US considering that some come from French speaking countries (Smith, 2013). In the end, despite their levels of education many African immigrants end up working in low paying jobs like street hawking, working as janitors and taxi drivers. Previously, research had shown that there were more male African immigrants than women. However, that number has drastically changed over time and especially since the 1980 majorly because many immigrants are now able to relocate their extended ...