Study Finds Immigrants Don't Hurt U.S. Jobs

Summary:
Census data and estimates show the United States had 28 million immigrants – legal and illegal – age 16 and older in 2000, an increase of 61 percent from 1990. By 2004, there were 32 million. The majority are Latinos, followed by Asians. The Pew study did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.

By Kim Hart
Republished from The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/10/AR2006081001711.html)

Pew detects no link to unemployment.

High levels of immigration in the past 15 years do not appear to have hurt employment opportunities for American workers, according to a new report.
The Pew Hispanic Center analyzed immigration state by state using US Census data, evaluating it against unemployment levels. No clear correlation between the two could be found.
Other factors, such as economic growth, have likely played a larger role in influencing the American job market, said Rakesh Kochhar, principal author of the report and an economist at the Pew Hispanic Center in the District.
“We are simply looking for a pattern across 50 states, and we did not find one,” Kochhar said. “We cannot say with certainty that growth in the foreign population has hurt or helped American jobs.”
Immigration policy is a central issue in this fall’s congressional elections. The report’s findings appear to refute the idea – often voiced by supporters of stricter immigration laws – that foreign workers depress wages and take jobs from American workers, especially those with less education and fewer skills.

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High levels of immigration in the past 15 years do not appear to have hurt employment opportunities for American workers, according to a new report.

Please tell that to the poor, uneducated blacks who can no longer get those jobs held by illegal aliens. I am sure it will make them feel much better.

My observation is that the poor and uneducated of any race aren't usually beating down the doors of any business demanding employment. In other words, the jobs were available to be filled by Mexicans because none of the poor and unedcated had taken them.

My observation is that the poor and uneducated of any race aren't usually beating down the doors of any business demanding employment. In other words, the jobs were available to be filled by Mexicans because none of the poor and unedcated had taken them.

That's my experience also.

For instance, guess what race is dominating the demographics of workers who have moved to New Orleans to accept employment rebuilding in New Orleans? I'll give you a hint....it isn't African Americans.

A great deal of those who went to NO to rebuild it own their own businesses.

They are trying to make NO a more up-scale place to live now.



That's my experience also.

For instance, guess what race is dominating the demographics of workers who have moved to New Orleans to accept employment rebuilding in New Orleans? I'll give you a hint....it isn't African Americans.

My observation is that the poor and uneducated of any race aren't usually beating down the doors of any business demanding employment. In other words, the jobs were available to be filled by Mexicans because none of the poor and unedcated had taken them.


That's not really true, Lionel. It used to be young, black men who did the landscaping, bused the tables, washed the dishes and did the heavy construction work. Illegal aliens came in and did those jobs for less and drove the young blacks and undereducated whites out of those job markets.

That's not really true, Lionel. It used to be young, black men who did the landscaping, bused the tables, washed the dishes and did the heavy construction work. Illegal aliens came in and did those jobs for less and drove the young blacks and undereducated whites out of those job markets.

Why aren't young black men and undereducated whites fighting for the well-paying reconstruction jobs in New Orleans then?

That's not really true, Lionel. It used to be young, black men who did the landscaping, bused the tables, washed the dishes and did the heavy construction work. Illegal aliens came in and did those jobs for less and drove the young blacks and undereducated whites out of those job markets.

I think we can both see the way it used to be versus the way it is now, but I've never seen anything that would indicate that it happened the way you think it did, whereas I've seen evidence of my theory. For instance, in Cincinnati you have poor inner city kids demanding summer jobs programs from the city to keep the kids busy. In a suburb, a large amusement park has a shuttle service from the city to the park to enable potential employees to get there. The end result? The park hires a bunch of eastern European kids every summer to fill the open positions.

That's not really true, Lionel. It used to be young, black men who did the landscaping, bused the tables, washed the dishes and did the heavy construction work. Illegal aliens came in and did those jobs for less and drove the young blacks and undereducated whites out of those job markets.

It's called price equilibrium.

There are a lot of unskilled laborers around. In a supply/demand scenario, that labor is the supply. The supply increases as immigrants come in, so the price people are willing to pay for it decreases, but as they leave their own countries, the supply of labor in those countries decreases and the price for that labor increases.

This process evens out the pay for labor across nations and is overall a very good thing. If you wish to keep people in third world countries in continuous poverty, then by all means kick them out of our country.

PS: What makes these young blacks unable to obtain skills; and why are you valuing them over immigrants. They are all human beings, and they all have the same thing to offer, yet you want to pay some more than others for the same job.

PS: What makes these young blacks unable to obtain skills; and why are you valuing them over immigrants. They are all human beings, and they all have the same thing to offer, yet you want to pay some more than others for the same job.

I disagree with this portion of your post. The U.S. should and does care more about their citizens than foreign citizens. It would be ridiculous for the govenment of a nation to NOT prioritize its citizens first. Otherwise, the government would not be doing its job.

A valid point Leper. So you're saying if they were citizens then it would be ok?