Immigrant Workers Expand US Labor Pool

 

By Leah Krakinowski

Recent surveys show many Americans want the nation's doors closed to immigrants. At the same time, President George W. Bush recently proposed an overhaul¹ of the nation's immigration laws, which, if approved by the U.S. Congress, would give legal status to an estimated nine million undocumented workers. Under these proposed changes, an undocumented worker would be able to apply for temporary worker status and would be guaranteed employee benefits such as minimum wage.

Many immigration experts have heralded² the plan, saying new skilled and unskilled immigrant workers, legal or not, account for 50 percent of the growth of the country's labor³ force in the past decade. Historian Alan Kraut of American University in Washington, D.C. says recent census⁴ data shows that in the past ten years, new immigrants have contributed heavily to the growth of the country's economy. He says immigration is crucial to renewing American society.

"Exclusion⁵ and restriction⁶ are not desirable." (says Mr. Kraut) "The United States has always been a nation of nations, a nation of immigrants. Its strength, economically, culturally and socially, has always been in having a positive attitude toward immigration."

A Northeastern University survey shows that nearly one in four immigrants hold a technical, managerial or professional position in the United States. New York University professor Hasia Diner says it is hardly surprising that educated new immigrants have become a major source for filling the nation's top technical jobs.

"Most migrations⁷ are driven by a set of economic realities in their place of origin, which make it possible for some swath of the population to calculate that opportunities are very limited, nearly impossible, if they stay. And that there is this place, the United States, where under the right circumstances, with the right kind of networking and hedging one's bets, the opportunities are pretty good."

California State University history professor Elliott Barkan says skilled immigrants in particular are part of a new class of newcomers. He says these professionals don't need the traditional immigrant network and often forego living in the same immigrant communities, because they tend to be more affluent⁸ and have different kinds of connections.

"We're now seeing many differences in terms of social class. So when you ask, 'How well are people fitting in?' We now have a social class factor that is much more pronounced. We have immigrants coming in, particularly from India, from Taiwan, and the Philippines who are well educated and who are professionals. They don't go through the same processes of adjustment. They don't have to because they can rely on their skills." Filipinos, for example, practically dominate the nursing field as the largest ethnic⁹ group at many hospitals in the New York City area. According to the 2000 Census, 30 percent of the 173,000 Filipinos in New York and the surrounding suburbs work as nurses or other health care professionals. That is four times the rate of other ethnic groups in the city.

American hospitals have been particularly aggressive in recruiting nurses from the Philippines to fill their nursing shortages. U.S. immigration officials have cooperated with hospitals by making it easier for nurses to obtain work visas and resident alien status.

New York University's Hasia Diner says the traditional divide between immigrants and American-born citizens across the country is becoming blurred¹⁰ by the influx¹¹ of educated professionals.

"Today's immigrants are coming into environments where they don't have to go through the same kinds of twists and turns to prove that they are blending in, fitting in. In the past, they felt the need to have a bifurcated¹² life. When they were out in public they were to be every man or every woman, they wanted to be just American. And they had to hide what was ethnically¹³ distinctive¹⁴."

Regardless of skill level, the record number of immigrants entering the United States during the 1990's has transformed the American work force. At the same time, they have prevented population losses in many parts of the country, and are filling labor shortages in the home health care and fast-food industries.

About one million newcomers arrive in the United States each year, mostly from Latin America and Asia. And by the year 2030, it is estimated that one out of four Americans will be of either Hispanic or Asian origin.

This is Leah Krakinowski for VOA news from New York.
注释：
overhaul 检查
undocumented 无正式文件的
minimum wage 最低工资
managerial 管理的
forego 在……之前，居先
dominate 支配，占优势
influx 流入
bifurcated 分成两部分的

1 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

2 heralded   

v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要）

参考例句：

• The singing of the birds heralded in the day. 鸟鸣报晓。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King. 嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

5 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

6 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

7 migrations   

n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It foundered during the turmoils accompanying the Great Migrations. 它在随着民族大迁徙而出现的混乱中崩溃。 来自辞典例句
• Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. 鸟类也有天生的时间感应器指导它们秋春迁移。 来自互联网

8 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

9 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

10 blurred   

v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离

参考例句：

• She suffered from dizziness and blurred vision. 她饱受头晕目眩之苦。
• Their lazy, blurred voices fell pleasantly on his ears. 他们那种慢吞吞、含糊不清的声音在他听起来却很悦耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

12 bifurcated   

a.分为两部分

参考例句：

• Over the past 15 years the marketplace for art books has bifurcated. 过去15年里，卖艺术类书籍的市场逐渐分化。
• This bifurcated view was reflected in how U.S. officials described the trip. 这种一分为二的观点也反映在美国官员自己对访华之行的描述上。

13 ethnically   

adv.人种上，民族上

参考例句：

• Ethnically, the Yuan Empire comprised most of modern China's ethnic groups. 元朝的民族成分包括现今中国绝大多数民族。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• Russia is ethnically relatively homogeneous. 俄罗斯是个民族成分相对单一的国家。 来自辞典例句

14 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。