rssMore Immigrants, a Better Economy
Friday, September 24, 2010 at 2:12 pm
- 15 Comments
In case you missed it: Ezra Klein makes a case today for increasing immigration as a way to attract highly skilled workers, lower prices and raise wages. He argues the economic arguments immigration critics point to, such as the need to protect jobs for Americans in bad economic times, have little basis in reality: Growing the labor force also grows the economy and raises wages for the average American.
The whole piece is worth a read, but here are Klein’s main points. First of all, growing the labor force through immigration rather than trying to increase the birth rate has economic benefits:
In fact, there’s a sense in which green cards are superior. Economists separate new workers into two categories: Those who “substitute” for existing labor – we’re both construction workers, and the boss can easily swap you out for me – and those who “complement” existing labor – you’re a construction engineer, and I’m a construction worker. Immigrants, more so than U.S.-born workers, tend to be in the second category, as the jobs you want to give to someone who doesn’t speak English very well and doesn’t have many skills are different from the jobs you give to people who are fluent and have more skills.
Secondly, undocumented immigration hurts some unskilled workers, who are forced to compete with workers who may be willing to accept less-than-legal wages. This means comprehensive immigration reform, in which some of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. earn legal status, is necessary to prevent illegal workers from driving down wages in low-skill sectors.
Then there are highly-skilled would-be immigrants, who are often forced to move elsewhere by a visa system that offers only 65,000 high-skilled visas each year. Only 15 percent of visas are set aside for employment purposes — including low-skill jobs, such as agriculture — compared to the large number set aside for family reunification. This hurts growth of small businesses and innovation in the U.S., Klein writes:
It’s never going to be the case that each and every one of the planet’s most talented individuals is born on U.S. soil. But those born elsewhere could be lured here. People like living here. We should be leveraging that advantage, mercilessly roaming the globe to find the most talented people and attract them to our country – like Dog the Bounty Hunter, but for particularly able foreign physicists. Because when we have the best talent, we have the best innovations. That’s how we landed Google, Intel and the Theory of Special Relativity. Immigrants are about twice as likely as native-born Americans to start a small business, and they’re 30 percent more likely to apply for a patent.
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Pingback posted September 24, 2010 @ 2:35 pm
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Comment posted September 24, 2010 @ 8:45 pm
People who talk economics are characterized by what they choose to ignore and what they choose to focus on. So let's looks at facts that Mr. Klein chooses to ignore. First, the level of H1B Visas was cut in half by Reid and Pelosi back in 2007 as a ploy to force Comprehensive Immigration Reform. They did it by refusing to extend a temporary expansion of that program which was expiring. That makes such wonderful sense does it not? Deny business skilled workers to force amnesty for unskilled workers?
In 2007 when unemployment was at its lowest, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the following:
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations Unemployment Rate = 8.5%
Construction and extraction occupations Unemployment Rate = 7.6%
Production occupations Unemployment Rate = 5.7%
Transportation, material moving occupations Unemployment Rate = 6.0%
Service occupations Unemployment Rate = 5.9%
Total Number of Americans Looking for Work bottomed out at 12.4 million in March, 2007, whereas a year earlier the Pew Center estimated the number of working Illegal Immigrants as 7.5 million. Pew Center data shows most Illegal Immigrants worked in agriculture, office and house cleaning, construction, and food preparation.
While Management, professional, and related occupations Unemployment Rate = 2.1%.
ALL the professions as reported above where Illegal Immigrants were most employed reported unemployment rates 1.5 to 4 percentage points above the overall average unemployment rate. Today that disparity is 1.5 to 5.5 percentage points above the overall average rate. In 2007 professions where few or no Illegal Immigrants work experienced almost half the overall average unemployment rate. Today this still holds true. The huge disparity in unemployment rates between professions effected and not effected by illegal immigration did not change from before the recession to after the recession.
This data shows that unemployment caused by Illegal Immigration is due to an oversupply of labor rather than lower salaries caused by the exploitation of those in the USA illegally. It also shows an endemic problem of excess labor that cannot be blamed on Wall Street wrecking the economy. Legal immigration may be good, but illegal immigration is not.
Pingback posted September 24, 2010 @ 11:19 pm
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Pingback posted September 25, 2010 @ 1:47 am
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Pingback posted September 25, 2010 @ 5:51 pm
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Comment posted September 26, 2010 @ 1:55 pm
Just ask California! They are loaded with Hispanics who can't be bothered to even learn the language, but they can get to welfare like a newborn calf can get to the teat – it is instinctive. California is in great shape!
Isn't it odd how people think this country just can't exist without importing a welfare class to load onto the taxpayer's backs?
Comment posted September 26, 2010 @ 1:57 pm
First, the level of H1B Visas was cut in half by Reid and Pelosi back in 2007 as a ploy to force Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
***********
It is the ignorant, unskilled, welfare dependent people that Democrats are counting on to keep them floating.
Pingback posted September 26, 2010 @ 6:01 pm
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Comment posted September 26, 2010 @ 9:50 pm
The part about there being only 65,000 non-immigrant visas per year is not true. That doesn't include 20,000 additional that require the equivalent of a masters degree, nor does it account for the fact the regulations allow 6 years, plus unlimited extensions for those sponsored for a green card. Nor does the number include non-immigrant visas working for cap-exempted institutions like non-profits and universities. So there are easily 1 million H-1B visa holders right now in the US. And this is just the “H” visa category. Additionally, there are the much-abused L and J visa categories. People who write these articles should be accurate and honest.
Pingback posted October 1, 2010 @ 10:36 pm
[...] More Immigrants, a Better EconomyThe Washington Independent… Americans in bad economic times, have little basis in reality: Growing the labor force also grows the economy and raises wages for the average American. … [...]
Pingback posted October 2, 2010 @ 3:31 am
[...] More Immigrants, a Better EconomyThe Washington Independent… Americans in bad economic times, have little basis in reality: Growing the labor force also grows the economy and raises wages for the average American. … [...]
Pingback posted October 7, 2010 @ 1:02 am
[...] More Immigrants, a Better EconomyThe Washington Independent… Americans in bad economic times, have little basis in reality: Growing the labor force also grows the economy and raises wages for the average American. … [...]
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