The secret to America's immigration success: jobs

Why America is so much better at immigration than Europe is a fascinating new piece by Kelsey Piper and Alexander Kustov (who also writes the great Popular by Design substack on immigration). Piper and Kustov point to a number of factors that have led to better outcomes and more public support for immigration in the United States (I know, right?), not least of which is America’s flexible labor market. When immigrants can get to work, they are more likely to integrate, impose less of a fiscal burden, and less likely to engage in crime. That, in turn, leads to more public support for immigration. Indeed, Piper and Kustov argue that the turn in public opinion against immigration in the USA coincides with shifts that made it harder for immigrants in the US to work! The labor market is only one part of the argument Piper and Kustov make, but it’s highly relevant to our thinking about policy work we could support in Europe.