ABSTRACT
Labor migration is a difficult subject for politicians in most countries of immigration. Business interests tend to want a more expansionist immigration policy, whereas unions and workers often want to limit immigration – unless they can see some benefit to organizing immigrant workers. Even though the economic rationale for allowing immigrant labor into a country may be sound, it runs into conflict with a variety of concerns about cultural homogeneity and changing demographics. Experiences with guest worker programs often led to unintended consequences, such as poor working conditions or guest workers staying on as residents, both legal and undocumented. We examine Chinese exclusion and the Bracero Program to understand why these policies passed, even though one is expansive and the other restrictive. We then consider Germany, where a temporary guest worker program was created in the post-war years to address labor shortages, with the expectation that workers’ stays would be temporary. Finally, we address current immigration debates, including whether policy makers should focus on stemming the flow of migrants or stopping the demand for their labor, public opinion on labor migration and migrants, and those between family-driven and employer-driven systems.
