Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas) has pointed to job growth in Texas during the current economic downturn as one of his main accomplishments. But analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) data collected by the Census Bureau show that immigrants (legal and illegal) have been the primary beneficiaries of this growth since 2007, not native-born workers. This is true even though the native-born accounted for the vast majority of growth in the working-age population (age 16 to 65) in Texas. Thus, they should have received the lion’s share of the increase in employment. As a result, the share of working-age natives in Texas holding a job has declined in a manner very similar to the nation a whole.
Among the findings:
- Of jobs created in Texas since 2007, 81 percent were taken by newly arrived immigrant workers (legal and illegal).
- In terms of numbers, between the second quarter of 2007, right before the recession began, and the second quarter of 2011, total employment in Texas increased by 279,000. Of this, 225,000 jobs went to immigrants (legal and illegal) who arrived in the United States in 2007 or later.
- Of newly arrived immigrants who took a job in Texas, 93 percent were not U.S. citizens. Thus government data show that more than three-fourths of net job growth in Texas were taken by newly arrived non-citizens (legal and illegal).
- The large share of job growth that went to immigrants is surprising because the native-born accounted for 69 percent of the growth in Texas’ working-age population (16 to 65). Thus, even though natives made up most of the growth in potential workers, most of the job growth went to immigrants.
- The share of working-age natives holding a job in Texas declined significantly, from 71 percent in 2007 to 67 percent in 2011. This decline is very similar to the decline for natives in the United States as a whole and is an indication that the situation for native-born workers in Texas is very similar to the overall situation in the country despite the state’s job growth.
- Of newly arrived immigrants who took jobs in Texas since 2007, we estimate that 50 percent (113,000) were illegal immigrants. Thus, about 40 percent of all the job growth in Texas since 2007 went to newly arrived illegal immigrants and 40 percent went to newly arrived legal immigrants.
- Immigrants took jobs across the educational distribution. More than one out three (97,000) of newly arrived immigrants who took a job had at least some college.
- These numbers raise the question of whether it makes sense to continue the current high level of legal immigration and also whether to continue to tolerate illegal immigration.
SOURCE
Ah, yes....Roy Beck and his CIS "Green" - population control - anti-immigration loons.
Rick Perry vs the Nativists The anti-immigrant movement is not a big fan of Rick Perry. In fact, presidential hopeful is rapidly turning into public enemy number one for his stance on immigration.
Perry’s comments during the recent debates have caused an uproar within the anti-immigrant movement, with major players Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA all publically condemning Perry for his views on immigration.
William Gheen of the anti-immigrant group American for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) has also attacked Perry on his immigration policies, issuing a press release after the last debate saying “Rick Perry is finished.”
Over the past week or so, Perry’s campaign decided to fight back against the anti-immigrant groups. First, Perry’s campaign responded to a memo written by Steven Camarota of CIS where he claimed that most of the jobs the Perry created in Texas during his time as governor were given to immigrants. A Perry campaign worker, Ray Sullivan, responded to Camarota’s memo stating that CIS’s numbers were, “really off base and wrong.”
This is not the first time CIS has been accused of manipulating numbers for its reports, which always conclude, whether the topic be ENVIRONMENT or economy, with the same message: immigrants are to blame.