President Biden argued that immigration makes countries economically strong, while criticizing Japan, China, India and others as “xenophobic” for not welcoming more immigrants.
He asserted the U.S. economy is growing because of immigration. Critics argued Biden’s policy inflates the economy in ways that boost corporate profits but hurt ordinary Americans via higher inflation, housing costs, and slower wage growth.
“One of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said.
Productivity growth came in at a 0.3% annual rate in Q1. It is very volatile so here are annualized growth rates in rough order of meaningfullness:
Since 2019-Q4: 1.5%
Last two years: 1.2%
Last year: 2.9%
Last quarter: 0.3% pic.twitter.com/Xqpgqfwpux— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) May 2, 2024
“Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants! …Immigrants are what makes us strong. Not a joke. That’s not hyperbole, because we have an influx of workers who want to be here and just contribute,” he said.
While migration expands the economy and tax revenues by adding consumers and workers, it also pulls down productivity gains.
In contrast, China prioritizes education, science, and automation to increase production and share wealth via wages instead of relying on immigration.
“The growth trajectory of the Japanese economy is actually not so bad when looking at per-capita figures,” economics professor Ulrich Volz said.
The U.S. had previously emphasized a similar high-productivity strategy but shifted in 1990 towards extraction migration, which critics say extracts resources from other nations while disadvantaging native-born Americans over the long run.
“All of these companies have a hard time to find blue-collar labor,” stated Zhou Linlin, chief executive of Shanghai investment firm Principle Capital. “That’s why all the companies are looking for automation and robotics solutions.”
