What would happen if we opened EU borders? and I let just anyone? There responds economist Michael Clemens.
His calculations show that the freedom to move across borders could double the global GDP.
The data available to us show that in general terms the migration has had a positive impact on economic growth in Europe.
We could say that it is a shared opinion among economists. That says a lot, because economists are known to put an objection on everything. But all the evidence in our possession show large gains in overall economic activity in the face of the reduction of obstacles to the movement of workers. 96 percent of the American labor economists agree that in the US the economic benefits from immigration outweigh the losses.
Decrease salaries for European workers? is possible to integrate millions of new workers? some of which are not qualified?
Migration flows of the future could increase salaries and employment of the standard European worker.
Confirmations arrive by economists Mette Foged and Giovanni Peri. They studied salaries and employment of each individual worker of Denmark from 1991 to 2008 (yes, everyone) and control how they responded to the heavy influx of refugees from places like Somalia and Afghanistan. This flow has led to the increase in wages and employment of unskilled natives. Foged and Peri show that Danish workers not have responded to the highly skilled migrant inflows specializing in occupations that require more complex tasks and less manual labor.
Foreign workers are not just workers, but also consumers. So low-skilled migrants end up creating jobs.
The welfare system could collapse, having to provide for too many people? There are ways to mitigate this phenomenon?
Currently, the welfare state in Europe depends altogether by migrants, and not the other.
A 2013 OECD report found that an average family of migrants contributed on average more than 3000 euro of taxes, more than it had received in benefits. This means that the overall work of migrants is subsidizing European states, helping Europeans to provide for the expenses for the education of their children, and the care of their grandparents. The question is: without migrants, European welfare systems would collapse?
The new migrants are usually young and healthy, the type of person that contributes directly to state coffers and reduced average age for the payment of pensions.
In summary, comparing the graphs and data of open borders with information on employment, wages, GDP, specializations etc ... you will see some positive correlations.