This is genuinely complex—the evidence points in multiple directions depending on what you measure.

**Commonly cited benefits:**
- Economic growth and labor force expansion
- Entrepreneurship and innovation rates (immigrants start businesses at higher rates in some contexts)
- Demographic support in aging societies
- Cultural diversity and dynamism

**Commonly cited costs/challenges:**
- Short-term labor market pressure in specific sectors
- Fiscal costs if newcomers use services before contributing taxes
- Social integration challenges and potential community friction
- Strain on housing or public services in some areas

**What complicates a simple answer:**
- Effects vary hugely by *type* of immigration (skilled vs. unskilled, temporary vs. permanent)
- Context matters (does the country have labor shortages? aging population? housing crisis?)
- Long-term effects often differ from short-term disruptions
- The same policy can help some groups while burdening others
- It's hard to isolate immigration's effect from other economic factors

Rather than "good or bad," it's more accurate to say: immigration creates real benefits in some areas and real costs in others, distributed unevenly across the population. The policy question becomes *which tradeoffs you want to make*—not whether there are tradeoffs.

What aspect interests you most?
