Migration Push Factors in the First and Third Worlds

“falling in love” vs “Poverty and lack of jobs”

Push factors are different for every immigrant throughout the world. Some are more severe than
others. However, the pull factor to the US will always be similar, success, more opportunities
and freedom.

December 05, 2019 10:20am

Lizet Castillo, Ian Canizales

Most Immigrants come to the United States in search of the American Dream. However
there is a difference in those that have the necessity to leave their native country and those that
merely want to leave.
People flee their country of origin because of many reasons. Some reasons can be that
there aren’t enough job opportunities, poverty, war or other forms of violence. Here in the United
States, the Military Industrial Complex expands with each civil conflict. They do this because of
all the millions of dollars they profit from selling their military equipment. As a result, people
find it easier to flee from war in search of safety than staying in their native country, not
knowing what may happen. However everyone has push and pull factors, ones more impacted
than others.

United kingdom Economy: England

This is a 1st world country. It was one of
the Westrn European countries whose banks made
massive loans with petro dollars to 3rd world
countries during 1970’s. Countries like English
benefited from rising interest rates that the banks
eventually placed on the loans. Therefore, they
were getting part of the interest charged to 3rd
world countries.
Even though the United Kingdom is 40
times smaller than the United states. It has the 5th
largest economies of the world. It is considered a
market economy and the sectors that contribute the
most are services manufacturing, construction and
tourism. There are not many people that emigrate Year 2000 London Eye. Photo: Andrea Pucci
from here. However, some do and you may
rightfully wonder why.

An immigrant lawyer who arrived from the UK in 1992 said the following, “The UK
economy is more highly regulated than the US economy. There is not such a disparity between
the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in the UK. There is a much stronger social safety net in the UK.
For example, every person has free healthcare in England.” The government of England treats
their people the same with their social programs.

Perhaps, the push factor that compelled her to immigrate to the US was not the lack of
labor, but falling in love, “When I was in my mid-20s, I spent 6 months traveling the world, from
South America to Australia to South East Asia. I met my now husband during that time. He was
from the US. He had to return to finish his college education, so I went with him. We got
married and I have lived in the US ever since.” The economic factors did not seem to influence
this person’s decision. However there have been many opportunities in this country that in
England, she would not have.

(
1
)

The employment rate in each UK country has risen over the past 20
years, Labor Force survey.

Guatemala Economy
This story is about the struggle of someone who had nothing but the motivation to have
more. In Guatemala, life is very different. Most people live in poverty, with low education rates,
food insecurity, and poor healthcare. There are no subsidies as in the UK. Guatemala has been
through so many problems that it is hard to live a normal life. Based on the article (2) US IAD
“Furthermore, tenure is insecure and is one of the
key causes of poverty among indigenous
Guatemalans, who make up 43% of the population.
During 1970 Guatemala as a third world country
borrowing money from 1st world countries through
loans. This was due to the price of oil that increased
sharply. The money was used in oil, modernizing,
industrialization of the countries. The loans had a

Xela (Quetzaltenango), Guatemala, 1995, Allthecities

high interest and for many countries was hard to pay. They had to shorten their structural
adjustment programs that affected almost every person in Guatemala.

A young man who faced all these struggles and decided it was time to put everything
behind and make his way to the US. He emigrated to this country in 1999 because of poverty and
lack of labor, “In my country you earn little, and there is not much work, it would be to work in
agriculture and that is not always the case. Also in my country all things have a high price.” The
payment did not keep up with the import. The protective tariffs were high because of the loans.

However the push factor for this man was poverty and lack of job opportunities, “Poverty
made me make the decision of immigrating in this country.” He was growing up and realized
that he had to help his mother that could no longer work. Guatemala was undergoing a serious
poverty crisis. For the betterment of his family and himself, he decided to leave the country.

(
3
)

Poverty Rate in Guatemala, World Banks

The reasons why these people arrived in the US were different which also involved
different backgrounds. In one, the Social Service Programs were high, while in the other they
were very low. In one, the cities are industrialized, while in the other the damaged streets are
filled with danger. All of this for the money, the 1st world country borrowed and 3rd world
countries pay a high price on interest rates. This is a country of immigrants from all parts of the
world. The push factors might all be different, but the only similar thing is the pull factor, more
opportunities and freedom.

Work cited

1. https://www.jrf.org.uk/data
2. https://www.land-links.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/09/USAID_Land_Tenure_Guatemala_Profile_0.pdf
3. <ahref='https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/GTM/guatemala/poverty-
rate'>Guatemala Poverty Rate 1986-2019</a>. www.macrotrends.net. Retrieved 2019-12-
16.