Posted on 06/27/2014 7:38:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Today is the first anniversary of the Senate’s passage of the Gang of Eight immigration bill (S.744). So it is fitting to remember just how out of touch that bill was with what is actually going on in the U.S. labor market. The labor-force participation of working-age native-born Americans (ages 16 to 65) is at a record low, and the number not in the labor force is at a record high. Yet the Gang of Eight bill would double the number of new legal immigrants allowed into the country over the next decade to 20 million, adding to the 40 million immigrants (legal and illegal) already here. It would also legalize some 12 million illegal immigrants.
Democrats are extremely vulnerable on this issue. But instead of labeling the Democrats as captive to special interests and indifferent to struggling American workers, much of the Republican party’s leadership wants to go along with this scheme.
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies finds that the labor market looks dismal. We examine the employment rate — the share actually holding a job — and the labor-force participation rate — the share either holding a job or looking for one. (We also looked at the unemployment rate, but the government’s definition of “unemployed” is somewhat artificial and not especially illuminating.) In the first quarter of 2014, 58 million working-age native-born Americans were not working — 17 million more than in 2000. These figures do not include the 11 million working-age immigrants who are not working. Fully 34 percent of working-age natives do not have a job. As recently as the first quarter of 2000, the figure was 26 percent. (The report does not include those in prisons.)
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
BTTT!
Yes....I see that...and agree!
Immigrants are syphoning off more from our welfare system than natives. And, we have a shortage of jobs.
Yet, we have 0 importing more immigrant *workers*.
E-Verify and Welfare Reform would do wonders to fix this problem - all the way around. Don’t you think? (Though it will NEVER happen under this regime/UniParty.)
We have been importing more workers for more than 25 years. Obama did not originate these legal immigration caps and limits. Bush 41 approved the almost tripling of legal immigration annually. We need to change the laws and immigration policies to start reducing the numbers. We can't blame Obama for this one.
E-Verify and Welfare Reform would do wonders to fix this problem - all the way around. Don’t you think? (Though it will NEVER happen under this regime/UniParty.)
They would certainly help in terms of curbing ILLEGAL immigration, but they would do nothing in terms of mitigating the impact on American workers of LEGAL IMMIGRATION. We must reduce LEGAL immigration substantially.
I'll go a step further; I advocate a thirty year timeout on all immigration, legal and illegal.
Our culture is now under great stress and one of the primary reasons is that, over the last thirty years, we have taken in many millions of immigrants both legally and illegally. Under the banner of multiculturalism, an absolutely disastrous idea, many of these newcomers, and perhaps most, have seen no particular reason to become Americans, and so have not. By becoming an American, I'm referring to the adoption of American culture as one's own.
It will take at least thirty years more to assimilate the people who are already here.
I agree with your sentiment, but there is no way we can cut off immigration completely. If we go back to the 195,000 a year during the period 1921 to 1970, we can achieve what you want.
I expect that what is possible is primarily a political issue; I'll take whatever we can get. I am certain of only one thing: if we don't stop the flood and reverse the cultural tide soon, we will lose our country.
The result of illegal immigration is the lowering of the average wagw. This reduction also levels the standard of living and wipes out the middle class. Once the middle class is gone America is just like every other country. What separates us from the rest of the world is the opportunity of upward mobility of our middle class.
You okay? No posts for a while.
Where are you?
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