Thus. while conditions in Puerto Rico improved. the number of Puerto Ricans leaving the island increased at the same time. Without the massive migration to the United States. there would have been no dramatic rise in per capita income. in better housing. in expanded employment opportunities or other benefits which have been credited as the achievement of Operation Bootstraps. Had there been no emigration it is obvious that the Puerto Rican economy would have had to supply a great many more jobs than it has generated in the last two decades. In fact. the peak net migration rate. which occurred in 1953. was sufficiently large to exceed the rate of natural increase and cause a reduction in the absolute population. From a percentage increase of 18.3 percent in the 10year period of 19401950. the population of Puerto Rico increased by only 6.3 percent during the following decade. Although a portion of this decline can be attributed to reduced fertility levels. the major factor was the emigration from the island to the mainland. As George C. Myers has stated: Without these migration losses Puerto Ricos population would have increased by 27.5 per cent in the tenyear period [19501960]. and this figure excludes births that would have occurred to persons if they had not moved. but remained In Puerto Rico.
Keywords matched
emigration