Immigration, unemployment and welfare

The recent flows of immigrants to many countries has been categorized by both legal/illegal migrants. Such migration flows have occurred despite the presence of domestic unemployment of various categories of labour. It has also been observed that migration has lowered the reward of unskilled workers. These problems are analysed on the basis of two alternative models: (i) where skilled workers and (ii) where unskilled workers are unemployed. It is shown that migration may raise both skilled/unskilled employment and welfare under plausible factor intensity conditions. More importantly, illegal migration may help in lowering the relative price of the non- traded good while the impact of migration on structural adjustment is ambiguous. © 1999, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.