Friday, November 18, 2005

Why America Beats Europe at Integrating Immigrants

The Economist hits the nail on the head (subscription only article):
Work is the archetypal social activity. It provides friends and contacts beyond your family or ethnic group. If you start your own company, it pulls you further into the society around you. And here is a striking difference between Europe and America. Unemployment in France is almost 10%. Among immigrants or the children of immigrants, it is at least twice and sometimes four times as high. In contrast, unemployment among legal immigrants in America is negligible, and business ownership is off the scale compared with Europe.

The second big motor of integration is home-ownership, especially important in the second and third generations. This gives people a stake in society, something they can lose. Thanks to cheap mortgages and an advanced banking system, half of Latinos in America own their own homes. Britain, after its council-house sales and property booms, also encourages house ownership. In contrast, most of the blocks in the French banlieues are publicly owned.

Between them, a job and a house help to create not only more integration but also greater social mobility. Latinos supported America's turn towards assimilation because they feared the trap of Spanish-language ghettos. But the banlieues are full of people who have grown up without jobs, or any hope of getting a better income or a better place to live. For them, integration is a deceit, not a promise.

A job and a house will not solve everything. The father of one of the July 7th London bombers owned two shops, two houses and a Mercedes. But if you want to know why second- and third-generation immigrants integrate more in some countries than others, jobs and houses are a good place to start.
Having lived half my life in Europe and the other half in America has led me to the same conclusion. I have never met an immigrant to Europe who speaks of his new home with as much respect, gratitude and admiration as many first and second generation Americans do.

1 comment:

Mads Kvalsvik said...

You raise some good points, living in the US is not necessarily a walk in the park. Culturally it is perhaps more difficult to integrate since there is, as you say, really nothing to integrate to (other than consumer culture, hamburgers and Hollywood/TV).

Also, the notion of what makes people "happy" is a complex one. On some level I believe that Europeans are, on average, happier than Americans precisely because they have societal "roots" in a way that many Americans don't.

However, in light of the recent riots in France it seems clear to me that even though immigrants to America may not always be "happy", they do tend to engage in less destructive activities. And I do believe this is in large part due to the ease with which immigrants find work and buy homes.

Thanks for your comment, hope to see more of them!