Posted on 04/01/2006 8:25:19 AM PST by B4Ranch
Immigration cited as reason for U.S. losses
It's a widespread belief, one reinforced by public officials including President Bush: ``Illegal immigrants do the jobs Americans won't do.''
But it's being challenged in a five-year study that concludes millions of undereducated Americans are without work in a labor market oversaturated by illegal immigrants.
Steven Camarota, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that favors reduced immigration, released the findings Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
The study calls into question the theory that America is desperately short of underskilled workers, Camarota said. More importantly, he added, the research concluded that illegal immigration had a direct effect on job loss for native-born workers.
Employers who hire from the vast pool of illegal immigrants avoid paying workers' compensation, health benefits, Social Security and a whole slew of labor law requirements, he said.
From backbreaking jobs in the meatpacking industry to janitorial work, the research showed that from 2000 to 2005, participation in the labor force by U.S.-born adults without a high school degree fell from 59 percent to 56 percent. Among U.S.-born adults with a high school degree, participation dropped from 78 percent to 75 percent, according to the study.
During the same time, the number of adult immigrant workers with a high school degree or less increased by 1.5 million people … rising from 15.5 percent of the work force to 17.4 percent. In a hot political climate where ``guest-worker'' programs are being debated on Capitol Hill and anti-immigrant groups are protesting outside day labor centers across Southern California, the study's release comes as immigration is taking center stage.
Senate and congressional debates rely heavily on unsubstantiated information about the labor market and illegal immigration, Camarota said.
``There is nothing wrong with immigration; it's a very powerful force in the United States labor market,'' Camarota said. ``But the idea that immigrants are doing the jobs Americans won't do is absurd on its face. There are no such jobs that Americans won't do, because most of the jobs in America are done by native-born (residents).''
The number of American-born high school dropouts with jobs declined from 2000 to 2005 by 1.3 million, the study estimated. Census data collected in the study revealed that 4 million Americans between the ages of 18 to 64 with a high school education or less are unemployed, while 19 million others are not in the labor force.
However, Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, who has conducted similar research into income and wage inequality, said the issue is not necessarily illegal immigration, but a sign of the U.S. market underperforming.
Bernstein said the lack of job creation in the U.S. over the past five years has contributed to the growth of unemployment for all unskilled laborers.
The overall weak demand for labor, outsourcing of U.S. jobs and low minimum wage contributes more to job loss among Americans than illegal immigration, Bernstein added.
Bernstein did not dispute the report's findings but did disagree with its conclusion.
``This is more of a sign of a labor market underperforming in general than an immigrant group doing better,'' Bernstein said. ``But the deterioration is worse for native than foreign-born. It's a pretty tough labor market for everybody.''
Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass, and John McCain, R-Ariz., have proposed a guest-worker program that would admit 400,000 foreign workers annually. The Bush administration is looking for an open-ended guest-worker plan.
President Bush proposed that a guest-worker program ``match willing foreign workers with willing U.S. employers when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs. The program would be open to new foreign workers and to the undocumented men and women currently employed in the U.S.''
The administration's proposal falls in line with what the Mexican government has been seeking for a guest-worker program, said Raphael Laveaga, in an earlier interview. Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., said both nations must work together to create a guest-worker program.
``We are neighbors and friends,'' Laveaga said. ``A guest- worker program that takes into consideration the needs of both nations is important in combating the issues of migration.''
The proposals have led to the organization of hundreds of anti-illegal immigrant groups across the United States, from the Minuteman civilian border watch groups to Friends of the Border Patrol, chaired by Andy Ramirez of Chino. These groups argue that guest-worker programs should not be considered until the southern border with Mexico is secured.
``President Bush outsources high-tech jobs and imports illegal immigrant labor,'' Ramirez said. ``The question is, what happens to middle-class America?''
Camarota argues against the administration's stance for a guest-worker program, saying it harms the American worker. He added that cultural misperceptions of what illegal immigrants are willing to do, along with cost-cutting by employers, contribute to the growing number of illegal immigrants being hired in the United States.
Unemployment remains relatively high for some native-born groups … 9.3 percent for African-Americans and 12.7 percent for white teenagers, the study finds.
``If you flood the bottom of the labor market, it doesn't matter what laws you pass, they are unenforceable … the supply and demand will be overwhelming,'' Camarota said. ``It always trumps labor laws.''
KEY POINTS
A study released Wednesday by the Center of Immigration Studies challenges the notion that illegal immigrants are doing the jobs Americans won't do. It concluded that undereducated native-born Americans are without work partly because the labor market is oversaturated by illegal immigrants.
• Some of the occupations most affected by immigration include maids, construction workers, dishwashers, janitors, painters, cabbies, groundskeepers and meat/poultry workers. Workers in these occupations are overwhelmingly native-born.
• The workers themselves are not the only thing to consider: Nearly half of American children younger than 18 are dependent on a less-educated worker, and 71 percent of children of the native-born working poor depend on a worker with a high school degree or less.
• Native-born teenagers (15 to 17) also saw their labor force participation fall from 30 percent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2005.
• Wage data show little evidence of a labor shortage. Wage growth for less-educated natives has generally lagged.
Source: Center for Immigration Studies
Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8552.
If we really wanted to do something useful, we could replace all the illegals we can detect with guys (and women) coming out of prison after serving their time, with suitable screening to weed out the psychos. They have a helluva time finding work.
That would help address the Black unemployment problem, frankly, as most of these guys are black, and it would get the jobs done by what after all are home grown Americans. Maybe, just maybe, getting a shot at a job this way would be a good re-entry program and reduce recidivism in the bargain.
"My conclusion is based upon the unemployment numbers going down"
The phony number is down because welfare recipients are included as employed.
Worse than that the numbers are based on a telephone survey of employers.
" An illegal alien is willing to provide labor at a price lower than the price demanded by native-borns"
Thy aren't working cheaper but they are working for cash with no deductions, no comp insurance and no taxes paid.
In construction that's a savings to the employer of over 100%.
Yes, and I would like to see a return to representative federalist government also. The problem was, though, that the State legislatures were so full of corrupt A-holes that the Senate had become a joke. Now, the senate is still a joke, and state legislatures are about as trustworthy as a bunch of professional gamblers.
If we were to return to the original intent, we would also have to re-orient the voting public to the importance of the States, and get decent reps in the statehouses. Not an easy task. I live in Ohio, and frankly, if the terrorists had wiped out the statehouse and governor's mansion in Columbus on 9/11 they would have done the state a favor.
"The 'comfortable middle class' are people who don't have desires for their own private airplanes"
Not true, I desperatly want another airplane to replace the one that I totaled in Mexico.
I hear you and you are probably right, but Doug said he had information that the Border Control group was new and intended to take action.
He thought we should at least test them. He wants feedback for that reason.
I'm going to give it a try. I have asked some honchos at construction sites if all their employees had green cards. Sort of a trap waiting for the response.
I was told by one to get the F... off his job site. Another told me yes and asked me what authority I had. I told him none. He also invited me to leave.
I will have an opportunity to see what happens on May 1st. If it turns out some of them are off that day I will call.
You might read the ist thread of Doug's and see what you think.
:)Easy Does It:)
This is all you should have needed to read to know just how accurate the information is.
Revised: November, 2004
Contact us at
(c) 2004 U.S. Border Control
That is an incorrect interpretation.
It means that 3% dropped out of the labor force altogether.
They are neither "employed" nor "unemployed".
They do not have jobs, and are not looking for jobs.
Much the same as kindergardners or senior citizens living in a nursing home.
Slapping forhead.
I will still call on the guy who ran me off without answering if he has any guys gone on the ist. :)
Send me FReepmail with info about those construction sites. I'll see if I can cause them some grief. But we must be careful that we are getting accurate information.
There must be an economic consideration, or reporting function. We even evaluate the financial impact of people dying. Do you contend that these people disappear from the economy?
Persons Not in the Labor Force
Nearly 1.5 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in February, down from about 1.7 million a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 386,000 discouraged workers in February, down from 485,000 a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not current- ly looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.1 million marginally attached had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.
IMHO, it's a sneaky way of not counting them as unemployed so that the "official" unemployment rate is lower than actual.
Society needs 'second chance to start over' jobs.
Jobs for dried out alcoholics, released convicts, knuckle head gangbangers who want to straighten out, etc. Jobs to give repentant people second chances. A Christian society gives repentant people second chances.
And it is these jobs that illegals take.
(i.e. lobby for a repeal of minimum-wage laws and allow the free market to set wages),
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Federal minimum wage as it exists currently is a moot point, it is so low that anything less would be meaningless, one hour at minimum now does not GROSS enough before taxes to eat lunch in a fast food place. Over forty years ago when the minimum was $1.25 an hour it would easily have bought lunch for two with change left.
"Employers who hire from the vast pool of illegal immigrants avoid paying workers' compensation, health benefits, Social Security and a whole slew of labor law requirements, he said."
This is why the guest worker plan is only going to result in millions more flooding our country.
UNemployment rate for 2005 according to DOL was 5.1%, which equals 7,591,000 workers. (http://www.bls.gov/cps/home.htm). Illegal aliens in country app.10,000,000. Reduce illegals by 7,000,000 and we get almost full employment . Yes I realize we must have some unemployed for job growth , not sure of the exact amount. Does it really matter?? If 6,000,000 of the 7,591,000 got jobs it would be a huge improvement. I can't really find how many illegals actuallly have jobs but the people protesting say they are all working LOL. So that's 10,000,000 jobs not being taken by AMERICANS. IF there is a worker shortage then wages go up, also not a bad thing. Don't care how much it is going to cost to round em up and ship them out. How much do we pay in welfare and unemployment bebefits?? Probably more than what it would cost to round em up and ship them out.
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