Harvard Professor Speaks on Immigration

Mar 25, 2008 by Jeff Robinson

Says Labor Brokers Best Solution for Guest Workers

(KCPW News) While Utah lawmakers continue their efforts to curb illegal immigration as demonstrated by this legislative session, a Utah-born professor at Harvard University is bringing some new ideas to the debate. Lant Pritchett, a professor of Economic Development at the Kennedy School of Government, says constructing a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for immigrants should be thought of as two separate issues.

"There's no deep, intrinsic reason why they have to be together," says Pritchett, "And if we make them be together, we're going to allow many fewer people to be in our country than if we could separate them. People are deeply concerned, and rightly so, with all the cultural and social ramifications of allowing everyone resident on our territory a path to citizenship. I think once we separate those, we can begin to have a rational discussion and set up a system that we're willing to enforce."

Pritchett says the most effective way to create a guest-worker program is to set up a system of labor brokers in both foreign countries and the United States, making the brokers responsible for the supervision of individual workers.

The professor says the poorest workers in other countries are not primarily the ones migrating to the United States, because they simply can't afford to. Instead, he says it is middle class workers who intend to return to their home countries.

"You can come back with enough savings to buy a house, to buy a business, to establish yourself," says Pritchett. "What you see a lot of is what they call aspirational migration, where they don't want to come and live in the United States for their whole life, but if they could come and just work for even three years, they could save up enough that they could go back to their home town or their home village in a radically different economic situation."

Professor Pritchett was in town yesterday to give a lecture on the subject at Westminster College. You can listen to a conversation with the professor on the Midday Metro page.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW