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13 Int'l Migration Rev. 4 (1979)

handle is hein.journals/imgratv13 and id is 1 raw text is: Conditions of Employment and Income Distribution in Mexico as Incentives for Mexican Migration to the United States: Prospects to the End of the Century John S. Evans University of Alabama Dilmus D. James University of Texas, El Paso This paper examines the factors contributing to the flow of undocu- mented migrants from Mexico, demonstrating the problem to be both massive and enduring. The authors focus on the inadequate growth of productive employment, income inequality, and rapid population growth. While immigration to the United States from Mexico has, in the past, occurred in waves, the economic forces behind the current migratory flow are so powerful and long-lasting in nature that the supply of potential migrants can be expected to increase steadily for the foreseeable future, even under favorable economic, social, and political conditions in Mex- ico. Since there is little reason to expect the pressures for migration to abate before the turn of the century, there is little justification for believing that the flow of migrants will recede with the next economic recession. Since economic theory raises some issues about the desirability of illegal migration from Mexico and other Latin American countries in terms of the welfare of the United States; and since the political environ- ment in the United States is such that the migrants are frequently reputed to be a net drain on the economy and a threat to political and social stability, there are impelling reasons for resolving the economic issues and forging an effective, consistent, and clear long-term policy for dealing with the migration problem. The alternative is likely to be an atmosphere 4 IMR Volume 13 No. 1