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Unemployed in the U.S. (Immigration During Rising Unemployment)
National Review ^ | July 17, 2003 | James R. Edwards Jr.

Posted on 07/17/2003 2:28:19 PM PDT by Korth

Guestworker amnesty not wanted, not needed.

The Chamber of Commerce crowd and its liberal immigrant-advocate buddies just don't get it.

Unemployment has risen to 6.4 percent, the highest unemployment rate in nine years. Businesses cut 30,000 jobs in June alone, mostly in factories.

America's manufacturing sector lost 95,000 jobs in April. Forty-eight thousand other jobs disappeared the same month.

The combined elimination of American jobs in February and March was 477,000.

Almost half a million people each week file new claims for unemployment benefits.

The average workweek has fallen to 34 hours. That means American wage earners' paychecks have shrunk.

Today, more than 18 million Americans can't find full-time employment.

We have nine million officially unemployed individuals who each week seek jobs and find nothing. About two million of those have been out of work for more than half a year.

Another four million have dropped out of the labor force. They couldn't find work, so they stopped looking. They aren't reflected in the official unemployment rate.

About five million are working part-time because they couldn't find full-time jobs.

Unemployed Americans hurt worst have no more than a high-school education.

All this bleak economic news means that, on average, more than 41,000 people in each congressional district can't find full-time work.

Between the layoffs, unemployment, and underemployment that have characterized the American labor market the past few years, one would think that this would be among the worst possible times to import more foreign workers.

But the unpatriotic business lobby and its strange bedfellows of anti-Americanism keep pushing their Faustian bargain: a mass amnesty of illegal aliens that's dressed up as a "foreign guestworker" program.

Washington-based agriculture lobbyists are pushing as "urgent priorities" "adjustment of status" (a euphemism for legalizing illegal aliens) and foreign agricultural guestworkers. For instance, the National Council of Agricultural Employers wants Congress to "allow experienced farm workers who are out of status an opportunity to become documented."

Amnesty has numerous problems. Mainly, any amnesty rewards lawbreakers for their lawbreaking. And amnesty always results in encouraging more illegal immigration.

Another problem is that amnesty of illegal aliens feeds chain migration. Chain migration occurs when the initial immigrant brings additional relatives beyond his nuclear family of spouse and minor children. Under the current immigration system, you end up with one person's immigration resulting in 20-30 distant family members coming to America on no other basis than having a relative here.

Chain migration causes the long separation of spouses from one another and small children from having both parents to raise them. It's fundamentally unfair to split apart close family members in the name of "family reunification." It's all the more galling to prolong this separation by rewarding lawbreakers.

We already have nine million illegal aliens in America. Every year, we admit more than one million legal immigrants, while another one million illegal immigrants push their way in. Most come as chain immigrants, lacking education and job skills.

Plus, we admit thousands more temporary foreign workers each year. Many of these "adjust status" to immigrant categories and start their own family chains.

Thus, there are literally millions of foreigners coming to America, adding to our labor pools. Flooding the labor market with cheap foreign labor, especially of the unskilled variety, does the same thing as flooding any market with an excess of a product or service: It drives down prices.

That may sound good at first, but in the labor market, mass immigration speeds up a deadly spiral of wage depression. And it depresses wages on up the sectors.

If you legalize today's illegal agricultural workers, after they get their amnesty they'll climb the "career ladder" of the unskilled to, say, driving a cab or working at a convenience store. Those currently working in other low-skilled sectors experience greater and greater wage pressure, as more workers in that market compete for the same or fewer jobs.

This wage depression and job displacement are already happening, because of cheap foreign labor, across U.S. job sectors. News reports such as one March 10 in the Washington Post illustrate the perverse consequences of mass immigration.

Under the headline, "Feeble Economy, Tighter Borders Don't Stem Immigrant Tide," the Post reported that those new arrivals "are finding jobs." "The number of employed immigrants rose by 593,000 from 2000 through the end of last year, while the number of U.S.-born workers declined by 1.5 million, said a new report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University."

In contrast to unscrupulous businesses' Washington mouthpieces, America's Main Street small businesses don't want a guestworker program and oppose amnesty. The National Federation of Independent Business finds in member surveys that small business owners by nearly 3-to-1 oppose "temporary guest worker programs to ease worker shortages." And only 16 percent of business owners actually favor "amnesty to illegal immigrants who have worked in this country for a specified number of years" that business lobbyists in Washington are pushing.

Congressmen should pay more attention to businesses in their own districts and especially to the interests of their 41,000 unemployed or underemployed constituents instead of harming their employment prospects by rewarding foreign lawbreakers.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: economy; federalgovernment; freedom; immigrantlist; immigration; liberty; unemployment
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To: lelio
see my 20
21 posted on 07/17/2003 5:01:12 PM PDT by riri
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To: riri
Here in Phoenix we have a Subway in every strip mall.

The thing going for Subway is that its frequently staffed by one or two people. I've never seen one with more than four in it. Contrast that with Taco Bell or McDonalds where it seems like a dozen people are always there plus two managers.
Subway's able to do this as they offer really only one product: food on bread. The food items don't have to be cooked for the most part and can be slapped together easily. In McDonald's there's the stovetop, deep frier, milkshake maker, etc. One guy can't do all that.
But what gets me about the franchising business is the amount of capital you have to have before getting into it. Its upwards of $250k! Why would anyone with that type of cash want to buy something that they're going to have to stand in for 16 hours a day until they can find some trustworthy employees that won't rip them off is beyond me.
22 posted on 07/17/2003 5:05:02 PM PDT by lelio
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To: lelio
That might be a safe field, but there's talk about bringing in H1b's to handle our nursing "shortage" (there's no shortage, its just a shortage of supply at low wages).

My dad was in the hospital last year (virtua, mt. holly, nj), and I had to make a lot of trips there. One visit I saw a line of about 15 black girls being led down the hall. I asked about it, and was told they were from Somalia (I assume h1b's). All business has to do is say "shortage" and the floodgates open.

23 posted on 07/17/2003 5:05:13 PM PDT by searchandrecovery (America will not exist in 25 years.)
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To: searchandrecovery
and was told they were from Somalia (I assume h1b's)

Cuz, you know, there's no need for nurses in Somalia as there's no diseases, no one killing themselves, etc.
A 60 Minutes report on this was how some American companies are poaching the best black South Africian nurses by offering them salaries of twice what they can make in SA. Now we have two groups of angry people: American nurses being pushed out or not getting raises due to the imports, and the poor people in South Africian hospitals that have to deal with sub standard nurses as all the good ones left.
24 posted on 07/17/2003 5:11:29 PM PDT by lelio
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To: lelio
I just don't understand how one on every corner can survive. I mean, if I really wanted a sub, I would drive the extra block or two to get one. I don't need one within spittng distance wherever I am.

But yeah, you plunk down the $250,000 for the franchise, plus whatever leasehold i mprovements you need to make, pay your $1500+ a month rent for your spot in the strip mall,pay your 2% or whatever of your net to the franchise, buy your marketing materials, pay your suppliers and payroll--how much can be left? Especially when their is one on every corner?!

My dad used to say..it's not about making a profit, it's about cashflow. It's a scary thought, but he might have been on to something.

25 posted on 07/17/2003 5:14:42 PM PDT by riri
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To: riri
I wasn't giving you a hard time,...

No offence taken.

I am just not sure who's going to be around to afford these kind of purely indulgent services...

Aesthetician! New to me. If you have a service that targets the rich (well, and actually works) that will probably work. Geez, set up a spa. Make them feel (look?) gorgeous.

But yea, I'm kinda concerned, too. It seems like the rules have changed and no one's acknowledging it.

26 posted on 07/17/2003 5:17:09 PM PDT by searchandrecovery (America will not exist in 25 years.)
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To: Libertarianize the GOP
So sorry to inform you that the Mexican vote will win the White House.

That's the (immigrated in the past then years) Mexican vote, mind you.

Immigration is BIG, BIG politics.

27 posted on 07/17/2003 5:18:24 PM PDT by Happy2BMe (LIBERTY has arrived in Iraq - Now we can concentrate on HOLLYWEED!)
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To: searchandrecovery
Single young women have the disposable income and the motivation for these services.
Also, during the 1930's the cosmetic industry (along with the entertainment industry) did very brisk business.
28 posted on 07/17/2003 5:20:53 PM PDT by LibertyAndJusticeForAll
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To: Mears
"This whole immigration thing drives me nuts." Me too. I am absolutely convinced that it drives the majority of American citizens nuts but then who cares about American citizens? This is all being done against the will of the majority of the people. We no longer have a government that answers to us, that helps us, that attempts to protect us. Right now I am printing out the speech that Rep. Tom Tancredo gave yesterday regarding illegal immigration. Why is it that he seems to be the only one in government who seems to care? I think I'll emigrate to New Zealand or Australia or...or...someplace that has a better grip on the rights of their citizens.
29 posted on 07/17/2003 5:22:47 PM PDT by vikingcelt
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To: riri
I just don't understand how one on every corner can survive.

Counter-example. I live and visit Philly kinda regularly. I've always thought that a hot-dog stand would be a pretty good biz, during the workday week. And yet there's one on every (every!) corner. Get 200-300 transactions a day and you've made $200/day - $50k/year.

Sit outside a subway (or whatever) one day - count the number of transactions they do. Can they survive? You be the judge.

30 posted on 07/17/2003 5:25:32 PM PDT by searchandrecovery (America will not exist in 25 years.)
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To: vikingcelt
"When U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, said recently that illegal aliens should be deported, not given in-state tuition, Karl Rove, the Power Behind the Bush, told Mr. Tancredo never again to darken the steps of the White House."
http://www.usbc.org/profiles/profiles2003/0103departingfirstworld.htm
"Is the US departing the First World?" by Paul Craig Roberts
31 posted on 07/17/2003 5:30:27 PM PDT by LibertyAndJusticeForAll
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To: lelio
Cuz, you know, there's no need for nurses in Somalia as there's no diseases, no one killing themselves, etc.

To me, it's just sad, too.

32 posted on 07/17/2003 5:54:14 PM PDT by searchandrecovery (America will not exist in 25 years.)
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To: lelio
The Subway on the premises of Hershey Park has well over 10 people at a time working. Subway franchises don't cost too much if I recall. The franchise fees aren't that high, at any rate. Under $50,000 if I recall.
33 posted on 07/17/2003 5:56:58 PM PDT by College Repub (http://www.theskyiscrape.com)
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To: riri
There are areas with starbucks on both sides of the street at the same corner that experience double digit growth rates!
34 posted on 07/17/2003 5:58:04 PM PDT by College Repub (http://www.theskyiscrape.com)
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To: Happy2BMe
If I remember correctly, the last presidential election had about 105,365,834 total votes. Allowing 5% for third-party votes, there are about 50 million votes available for each of the major wings of the ruling socialist party.

Of the 18 million American citizens currently unemployed and under-employed, I'd guess well over half of these voted Republican in 2002. Those who voted Democrat in 2000 are even more likely to vote Democrat if their personal economic situation is bad. Those who voted Republican are more likely to switch or sit out the election entirely.

The Republicans need the money from big business to run their campaigns, but they need the votes from half the total population to win the election. If they lose only half of those 18 million voters in the next election, we'll see Hillary (or one of her minions) back in the White House.

China and India are pumping lots of money and pressure into both parties to keep the work visa and offshoring floodgates open. Only the Democrats will benefit politically from this economic destruction. Congress and the Administration could have stopped the economic bleeding and shut the borders two years ago had they wanted to.

Obviously, the Republicans would rather lose elections than represent the people who voted for them. They aren't called "The Stupid Party" for nothing.

35 posted on 07/17/2003 6:09:11 PM PDT by meadsjn
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To: gubamyster
I wouldn't expect pandering Pinnochio to change his 'evildoer' ways anytime soon.
36 posted on 07/17/2003 6:23:45 PM PDT by Tancredo Fan (Stop the invasion. Put the military on the borders, round up illegals, and tell Fox to shove off.)
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To: Mears
They also say that we need to let the illegals in because no Americans would do these jobs, but why should they if the gov. pays people to sit on the couch?

However, if we cut all the welfare off and it was a choice of eating or picking the vegies.... maybe these Americans would work.
37 posted on 07/17/2003 6:30:49 PM PDT by The UnVeiled Lady
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To: Willie Green
ping
38 posted on 07/17/2003 6:32:58 PM PDT by raybbr
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To: LibertyAndJusticeForAll
Excellent article by Roberts. It's so true, and so sad for America.
39 posted on 07/17/2003 6:37:08 PM PDT by janetgreen
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To: meadsjn
"Obviously, the Republicans would rather lose elections than represent the people who voted for them. They aren't called "The Stupid Party" for nothing."

I see Dubya making SO MANY of the very same blunders his dad made that gave Bill Clinton the White House.

Hey Dubya! > The Ostrich Effect > It Don't - IT DON'T WORK!

This roller coaster is going somewhere - STRAIGHT DOWN!

40 posted on 07/17/2003 7:23:00 PM PDT by Happy2BMe (LIBERTY has arrived in Iraq - Now we can concentrate on HOLLYWEED!)
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