Are Illegal Immigrants Really Taking Jobs Away From American Workers?

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/06...erican-worker/





By Dan Fastenberg, Posted Jun 6th 2011 @ 2:30PM

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When the Supreme Court voted to uphold the "Legal Arizona Workers Act" (LAWA) on May 25, the ability for states to revoke business licenses for firms hiring illegal immigrants was protected. (LAWA is distinct from Arizona SB 1070, which empowered law enforcement officers in Arizona to engage in racial profiling.)

Reaction to the decision among likely voters was strongly in favor: A Rasmussen poll conducted on May 27 and 28 found that 61 percent of Americans favor a law in their state that would shut down companies that knowingly and repeatedly hire illegal immigrants.



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And activists who advocate for restrictive immigration policies welcomed the ruling. "There's a downward effect on wages," says Jessica Vaughn, the director of policy studies for the D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, referring to the introduction of undocumented workers in the market. "There's so many occupations where wages have just been stagnant for many years, or even declined, like in construction, building trades industry and custodial work. Of course, it's not just one thing. You can't control competition from China. But immigration policy is something that we can control as a nation."

Support for the penalization of companies hiring illegal workers can be chalked up to a variety of motivations. But the view that it protects American jobs has been embraced by many, including politicians like Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus. "Not only is this law constitutional, it is common sense. American jobs should be preserved for Americans and legal workers," he said of the high court's 5-3 ruling. "Today, there are 7 million individuals working in the United States illegally. E-Verify will help turn off the jobs magnet that encourages illegal immigration."

But the debate over whether there is any correlation at all between immigration policy and the fortunes of the American workforce is in fact an open one. And according to Pia Orrenius, the senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the major question among most economists is actually why the impact of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants on the is so small.

Given that the topic of the economic impact of immigration is so politically charged, scores of studies have been ordered on the subject. The widely-shared consensus holds that for every 10 percent increase in the share of foreign-born workers in a specific area there's less than 1 percent change in the average wages of legal residents, including for low-skilled workers, says Orrenius. (Wages are used as the economic metric for employment in the U.S.)

Two leading papers that present the view of a minimal negative economic impact are: "Immigration and National Wages: Clarifying the Theory and Empirics," published in 2008 by academics Gianmarco Ottoviano and Giovanni Peri; and the landmark, "The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration," published in 1997 by James P. Smith and Barry Edmontson, working under the aegis of the 1990 Immigration Act.

These economists caution against extrapolating from anecdotes of immigrants coming to a specific town and taking jobs. Smith and Edmontson do concede, though, that "the losers may be the less-skilled domestic workers who compete with immigrants and whose wages will fall." But they go on to say: "To the extent that immigrants specialize in activities that otherwise would not have existed domestically, immigration can be beneficial for all domestic residents. In this case, there is little substitution of new immigrant workers for domestic workers."

The argument that an infusion of foreign workers represents a new and non-competing workforce, and therefore poses little threat to the American worker, is buttressed by other economic analysis. Among them is the related concept that as immigrants carry out jobs that natives wouldn't want, or even wouldn't exist if it weren't done by a foreigner, the native-born American is freed up to specialize. And that complementary model improves overall efficiency. Finally, the so-called "immigration surplus" holds that the US economy must benefit from a net gain in goods and services because wages earned by immigrants tend to be lower than the cost equivalent of what they produce.

It's funny how most articles talk about the internal competition (domestic) and not the external competition (international). In my line of work I already compete against the Indians, Chinese, Europeans and the rest of the world and I’m decent enough at my job to keep this work in the good ol’ USA. I pay taxes on my income in America, I reinvest the money I earn into the American economy and create American jobs.

2dreamORnot2dream don't encourage this ladies posts.

The answer is a resounding no.

Really open borders? Is he kidding? There are 60% of Mexicans that would love to live and work in the US. This guy is no more than a open borders advocate.
I have seen when companies start seriously checking out paper work and fire all the illegal immigrants US citizens have taken those jobs that they were formally shut out from. There are always 2 sides to any debate, but in this one I will aways back the US workers first.

I read this little gem a while back:

News flash: immigrants aren't taking anything from Americans. Companies like WalMart are giving jobs to them illegally. If WalMart paid a company to hire immigrants to do the job over Americans then there's probably a good reason for it. I'm sick and tired of lazy gluttonous Americans bitching about immigrants "taking" our jobs. It's not like they can literally come to America, ambush us in the parking lot and take our jobs.


If you lose your job to an immigrant, it's probably because he or she was willing to work harder for less money. Don't want to pay them full wages? Then don't hire them. If they do equal work, then they deserve equal pay. It's just that simple, and I'm not going to sit back like every other racist piece of shit bitching about having to work harder because there's a little competition for my job, immigrant or otherwise. I know I can do my job better than anyone, and if an immigrant thinks he can do a better job than I can, I welcome him to try.

What kind of chicken shit pussy is afraid of competition? Can't get a job because you lost out to an immigrant? Well TOUGH SHIT. Nobody wants to pay you for your half-assed work if someone else can do it better. That's what America is all about. Our president may be a moron, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let any more jackasses sully the reputation of hard working Americans who are willing to work just as hard as anyone else with or without competition. If you can't cut it, then the people with money will pay it to someone else who can. Maybe if all you people bitching weren't such lazy, pathetic, blood sucking leeches, you'd get off of your dead ass and work HARDER to do a better job. Get some balls people. If you're too chicken shit and you can't cut it, then maybe it's you who doesn't deserve to live in America. Not the immigrants.
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=walmart

I smell a f***en troll.

I've "stolen" American jobs ever since I began working as an HR assistant fresh out of high school... I'm sorry my work ethic, dedication and hard work are keeping you filing for unemployment, sitting in your couch watching Bill O'Reilly and bitching about undocumented immigrants.

Amen to that. It's not our fault citizens can't keep up lol.

I find it funny and pathetic how even well researched non-partisan scientific reasoning are not enough to satisfy idiotic minds. Most of them are brainwashed or just plain xenophobic.