Posted on 01/05/2005 9:50:39 PM PST by paltz
Today the president announces his plan for a vast new guestworker system, which would grant amnesty to millions of illegals currently in the United States, as well as import millions of new workers from abroad. (The president will also call for an increase in permanent legal immigration beyond the current rate of one million a year.
I make the argument against amnesty in the cover story for the , but here I want to look at the basic assumption underlying the whole Bush plan: that there are jobs Americans simply won't do, so that the importation of foreigners is essential. Whether these foreign workers are illegal aliens, guestworkers, or permanent legal immigrants is a detail to be worked out by us, the argument goes, but our need for them is unchanged.
Even many opponents of the proposed Bush Amnesty assume this to be true, leading them to propose new and improved guestworker programs, with provisions for stricter controls against permanent settlement, greater incentives to return, tighter enforcement against unscrupulous employers, etc.
As well-meaning as such efforts may be, the basic assumption is false — there is simply no economic reason to import foreign workers.
If the supply of foreign workers were to dry up (say, through actually enforcing the immigration law, for starters), employers would respond to this new, tighter, labor market in two ways. One, they would offer higher wages, increased benefits, and improved working conditions, so as to recruit and retain people from the remaining pool of workers. At the same time, the same employers would look for ways to eliminate some of the jobs they now are having trouble filling. The result would be a new equilibrium, with blue-collar workers making somewhat better money, but each one of those workers being more productive.
Many people fear the first part of such a response, claiming that prices for fruits and vegetables would skyrocket, fueling inflation. But since all unskilled labor — from Americans and foreigners, in all industries — accounts for such a small part of our economy, perhaps four percent of GDP, we can tighten the labor market without any fear of sparking meaningful inflation. Agricultural economist Philip Martin has pointed out that labor accounts for only about ten percent of the retail price of a head of lettuce, for instance, so even doubling the wages of pickers would have little noticeable effect on consumers.
But it's the second part of the response to a tighter labor market that people just don't get. By holding down natural wage growth in labor-intensive industries, immigration serves as a subsidy for low-wage, low-productivity ways of doing business, retarding technological progress and productivity growth.
That this is so should not be a surprise. Julian Simon, in his 1981 classic, The Ultimate Resource, wrote about how scarcity leads to innovation:
It is important to recognize that discoveries of improved methods and of substitute products are not just luck. They happen in response to "scarcity" — an increase in cost. Even after a discovery is made, there is a good chance that it will not be put into operation until there is need for it due to rising cost. This point is important: Scarcity and technological advance are not two unrelated competitors in a race; rather, each influences the other.
As it is for copper or oil, this fact is true also for labor; as wages have risen over time, innovators have devised ways of substituting capital for labor, increasing productivity to the benefit of all. The converse, of course, is also true; the artificial superabundance of a resource will tend to remove much of the incentive for innovation.
Stagnating innovation caused by excessive immigration is perhaps most apparent in the most immigrant-dependent activity — the harvest of fresh fruit and vegetables. The period from 1960 to 1975 (roughly from the end of the "Bracero" program, which imported Mexican farmworkers, to the beginning of the mass illegal immigration we are still experiencing today) was a period of considerable agricultural mechanization. But a continuing increase in the acreage and number of crops harvested mechanically did not materialize as expected, in large part because the supply of workers remained artificially large due to the growing illegal immigration we were politically unwilling to stop.
An example of a productivity improvement that "will not be put into operation until there is need for it due to rising cost," as Simon said, is in raisin grapes]. The production of raisins in California's Central Valley is one of the most labor-intensive activities in North America. Conventional methods require bunches of grapes to be cut by hand, manually placed in a tray for drying, manually turned, manually collected.
But starting in the 1950s in Australia (where there was no large supply of foreign farm labor), farmers were compelled by circumstances to develop a laborsaving method called "dried-on-the-vine" (DOV) production. This involves growing the grapevines on trellises, then, when the grapes are ready, cutting the base of the vine instead of cutting each bunch of grapes individually. This new method radically reduces labor demand at harvest time and increases yield per acre by up to 200 percent. But this high-productivity, innovative method of production has spread very slowly in the United States because the mass availability of foreign workers has served as a disincentive to farmers to make the necessary capital investment.
But perhaps immigration's role in retarding economic modernization is confined to agriculture, which, after all, is very different from the rest of the economy. Nope. Manufacturing sees the same phenomenon of a scarcity of low-skilled labor yielding innovation while a surfeit yields stagnation. An example of the latter: A 1995 report on southern California's apparel industry, prepared by Southern California Edison, warned of the danger to the industry of reliance on low-cost foreign labor:
In southern California, apparel productivity gains have been made through slow-growth in wages. While a large, low-cost labor pool has been a boon to apparel production in the past, overreliance on relatively low-cost sources of labor may now cost the industry dearly. The fact is, southern California has fallen behind both domestic and international competitors, even some of its lowest-labor-cost competitors, in applying the array of production and communications technologies available to the industry (such as computer aided design and electronic data interchange)." (Emphasis in original)
Conversely, home builders, who are still less reliant on foreign workers than some other industries, have begun to modernize construction techniques. The higher cost of labor means that "In the long run, we'll see a move toward homes built in factories," as Gopal Ahluwalia, director of research at the National Association of Home Builders, told the Washington Post several years ago. But as immigrants increasingly move into this industry, we can expect such innovation to spread much more slowly than it would otherwise.
But surely immigration is needed fill jobs in the service industry? After all, without immigrants, who will pump our gas? Oh, wait — we never imported immigrants for that and so now we pump our own gas, aided by technology that lets us pay at the pump — thus we have fewer attendants but more gas stations and get in and out faster than we used to when we trusted our car to the man who wore the Texaco star.
Other innovations suggest how, despite the protestations of employers, a tight low-skilled labor market can spur modernization even in the service sector: Automated switches have replaced most telephone operators, continuous-batch washing machines reduce labor demand for hotels, buffet-style restaurants need much less staff that full-service ones. As unlikely as it might seem, many VA hospitals are now using mobile robots to ferry medicines from their pharmacies to various nurse's stations, eliminating the need for a worker to perform that task. And devices like automatic vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, and pool cleaners are increasingly available to consumers. Keeping down low-skilled labor costs through the president's vast new guestworker plan would stifle this ongoing modernization process.
The idea that a modern society like ours requires the ministrations of foreign workers, because there is no other way to do get these jobs done, smacks of the apocryphal quote from a 19th-century patent commissioner: "Everything that can be invented has been invented."
— NRO Contributor Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a visiting fellow at the Nixon Center.
Who ?
No,the stupid are just...STUPID.
"American kids can't even read let alone make change and show up to work on time. "
Yeah, worthless AMERICAN KIDS, like those in Iraq, Afghanistan, and who knows whatever other hell-hole that are defending your rights to express your "opinion". It's obvious you won't be confused with facts.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1314180/posts
FROBL’s
Start your own business and learn the hard way.
"When robots design better robots than you can, then what? Humans will simply cease to be relevent and I suppose shall be replaced. That's what you're advocating. "
Yes, since slavery is outlawed, and any human being costs more in the long run than machinery, the ultiimate solution is to build self-replicating-maintaining robots to replace us all while the elite international corporate stock holders trade their printed cash with each other like a global monopoly game.
If I have to explain it ain't funny:)
"If an employer can find someone to do the job cheaper and better than you can then tough sh*t.
I wonder how well employers would like this rule turned around - luckily the laws they're protected by get enforced."
And dont you know it happens all the time.
Ever wonder how cheap teak furniture would be if you could fly to India and buy it there, then pay to have it shipped to the USA? Dirt cheap.
But US furniture manufacturers wont let that happen because, they claim, it will cost Americans jobs.
So when it suits them, preserving American jobs is all that matters, but when it goes against their desires, then it doesnt matter if Americans keep their jobs.
Soon they will argue to keep import tarriffs and controls in order to let illegals keep their jobs!
It isn't a conservative argument, and it isn't very intellectually honest either. There are a group of FReepers here, who are constantly trying to get immigration threads pulled for the same reasons you call xenophobic. I'm guessing you will hook up with them, and become part of their 'posse'.
After all, products should be available at the lowest possible price, and more providers is better.
Then both employer & employee can struggle in a perfectly competitive world.
Do you think blue collar blacks and whites haven't noticed the downward pressure on their wages illegals are creating ?
This is an issue Hillary could ride straight into the White House.
"Do you think blue collar blacks and whites haven't noticed the downward pressure on their wages illegals are creating ? "
Oh, yes they've noticed. Here's one. Mr. Anderson will be on Sixty Minutes, not sure of air date. He's also testified to congress about this twice in years past. www.theterryAndersonshow.com
African-Americans drowning in wave
of illegal immigration
By TERRY ANDERSON
THE black community has made great strides in the last few
decades. Racism has certainly not been eradicated, but it is no
longer accepted with a wink and a nod as it once was. We are
proud to see Secretary of State Colin Powell, even when we do
not agree with everything he does. The same with Condoleezza
Rice, the president's national security adviser, and many others.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that in some regions we black folks are so
overwhelmed by the huge numbers of immigrants that we are
being displaced in our schools, jobs and neighborhoods.
That may seem a harsh thing for a black person to say against
brown people, but I don't see it that way. I am an American,
proud of both my nation and my race. What I see in my
community of South Central Los Angeles -- where I have lived
nearly all my life -- is thousands of Mexicans who care nothing
about our traditions and culture, and only want to impose their
way on us. That's not immigration, that is invasion.
It is sad what has happened in my neighborhood. This was a
respectable, blue-collar area of hard-working black folks living in
their bungalows and going to their jobs. In just a couple decades it
has become almost entirely Mexican. They live several families to
a three-bedroom house and keep chickens in the yard, but the
city doesn't care about the zoning violations or the noise of having
so many crowded into a small space.
According to the Census Bureau, nearby Watts is now 60 percent
Hispanic, and it was previously the black community on the West
Coast. No longer.
The immigration situation is really hard on our young people. A
17-year-old kid on my street couldn't get a job at McDonald's
because he didn't speak Spanish. Another young neighbor boy
was thrown into a bilingual classroom at age 8 and was forced to
listen to Spanish all day long. His six-hour school day was turned
into three hours. When his mother asked for an English-only class,
she was told "there are none."
Would you believe that I, a black man, have been called a racist
many times for speaking up against this invasion? I have a radio
program on the subject and therefore hear from a lot of people,
even some in Mexico.
When they call me a racist, I put this question to them: What if a
hundred thousand Vietnamese were suddenly dropped into
Guadalajara? And what if those newcomers didn't speak Spanish,
and further insisted that their children be taught in Vietnamese?
What would you think if they were happy to work for half the
normal wages for any job they could get, thereby putting
thousands of your local Guadalajarans out of work? Would it be
racist to say there was a problem?
When people of good will and good sense hear the situation put
that way, nearly all understand and respect my viewpoint.
Now if only they would listen in Washington. America's political
leaders are the problem. They have been selling out this great
nation for real and imaginary political benefits while ignoring the
dangers. Even after Sept. 11, nothing has been done to plug up
our borders. Another terrorist attack could be 10 times worse,
and it would likely happen because Congress and the president
learned nothing about the need to keep the nation's borders
secure.
If I sound angry, you hear right. Like other Americans, I want
immigration to be legal, controlled and reduced. But as a black
American, I see that the burden my people must carry is heavier
than for many others. I am sure that if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
were alive, he would understand the fundamental unfairness to the
black community of allowing more immigration than the nation can
handle.
If you ain’t mad, you ain’t payin’ attention!
Thanks for that article.
Illegal immigrants are doing the same jobs blacks used to but for less money. They are competing directly with low and unskilled Americans and making it completely impossible for them to make any progress.
"Jobs Americans won't do"
Bush's folly is handing the Democrats a red button issue that can put them in the White House.
I could not care less about your profit margin.
I do care about the well being and security of this country.
Well I don't want you in my house, is that xenophobic?
First of all, you know nothing about me, how much I work, or how I get paid. Again, all you can post are emotional, incoherent rants. And you are foul-"mouthed" to boot.
You say you can't get fences built & that you want to hire subcontractors, but then you say Americans are lazy. Why don't you build your own fences & do the work yourself rather than hire subcontractors? You don't seem to like they work they do, so do it yourself, or are you too lazy?
Are you my mother or my boss? Who are you to judge that I am "playing" on FR or that I am not "giving an honest days (sic)work for [my] pay"? I am self-employed and I don't bill by the hour. I also don't hire any illegals, can you say the same?
Apparently he is.
And considering how quickly he did it, and the other WSJ/Cato/La Raza comments, it's safe to say he has nothing to new to add to the Treason Lobby's usual litany of nonsense, and we can all apply the Bozo filter to any further posts from the Troll.
"Why not do away with all those little restrictions that prevent entry into any particular market, like licenses, patents & copyright protections?
After all, products should be available at the lowest possible price, and more providers is better.
Then both employer & employee can struggle in a perfectly competitive world."
Of course you know the answer to that; mega-corporations want their cake and eat it too. They want protection from overseas manufacturing while they have 'free trade' only regarding illegal labor and H1-Bs and L1 visa immigrants.
Guest workers and illegal laborers have nothing do do with security; and they contribute to the well being of this cpuntry.
But, they do. And you continue to advocate for them. So, that means you agree that they should have access.
You don't have a right to a job. If an employer can find someone to do the job cheaper and better than you can then tough sh*t.
Huh? This is your argument for illegals?
Very few Americans use marijuana regularly, and those that do are not stopping due to the illegal status of the drug. Legalizing marijuana and other drugs would need mean a nation full of drug addicts. Part of the allure of drugs to teenagers is their illegality. I'm for locking people up who are a threat to society, and cannabis smokers certainly are not. That is, unless you area busybody more concerned about what your neighbor does, while your home life rapidly deterioriates.
So, you are implying that pot smokers have a better home life? Laughable.
Alcohol is legal and that doesn't stop millions of people from becoming alcoholics. Your logic is filled with THC. When you get out of high school you'll see the reality.
They're just coming over to read the comic books that Americans won't read.
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