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"A Day Without Immigrants,"
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| grooviebeats |
| quote: | Illegal workers: Boon for U.S. economy
The U.S. has benefited from illegal immigrants, most economists say, though some low-skilled workers have been hurt.
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
May 1, 2006: 11:31 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - In the heated debate over the impact of illegal immigration on the U.S. economy, Andrew Sum is one of those focusing on the negative.
The economist - the director of labor market studies at Northeastern University in Boston - argues that the large supply of immigrants has displaced low-skilled U.S.-born workers, particularly the young and the poor, from jobs.
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"About 85.5 of every 100 new workers are new immigrants in this decade," he said. "At no time in the last 60 years have we come close to this. They're really displacing young workers at a very high rate."
But even Sum would concede that the U.S. economy is larger, and growing faster, due to the supply of illegal immigrants, and that most Americans with higher job skills are better off for their presence.
"Without the immigrants, we would have a decline in labor force of 3 to 4 percent," he said. "We couldn't have grown nearly as much as we did in the '90s if we didn't have immigrants. And in the last few years our growth would have been slower. The only thing I've argued is that we've ignored that illegal immigration has put a lot of young adults into economic jeopardy."
Sum's views point out the dichotomy that many economists see when looking at the impact of immigration on the economy.
Few economists will argue with the concept that the economy is stronger for the presence of the low-cost labor force.
And while most admit they have to make at best make guesses, rather than the educated estimates they would like to make. But most say that economic growth would be a half a percentage point to 2 points lower without immigrant workers..
But even most of those who think it's good for the economy do see an impact on lower-skilled U.S.-born workers.
Few economists expect the economy to take a noticeable hit Monday from the call for immigrants to stay away from work and take part in protests against legislation that will crack down on illegal immigration.
"It's only for a day; much of the work not done on Monday is just going to be made up for on the week afterwards," said Benjamin Powell, senior fellow at the Independent Institute, an Oakland-based think tank.
But Powell and many economists say that the economy would face significant problems if there was any significant cut in the amount of immigrant labor coming into the country.
"Immigration is actually critical," said Bernard Baumohl, executive director of the Economic Outlook Group, a research group in Princeton Junction, N.J. "It allows the U.S. economy to grow more rapidly without higher inflation pressures."
Some economists argue that not only do U.S. consumers benefit from lower prices as a result of the low wages most immigrants are paid, but that the availability of lower-wage labor helps create more work for higher-skilled, higher-paid workers who are generally native born.
"If I'm a builder and I can hire more wallboard guys cheaply, my (ability to use) skilled carpenters goes up," said Northeastern's Sum.
Some economists say that if immigrant workers weren't present, rather than native-born workers getting better wages to do the same jobs, many jobs done by immigrants might not get done at all.
If immigration reform pushed wages higher for lower-skilled workers that would probably stop many average Americans from hiring household help they can now afford. The same is true for some manufacturers and service sector employers as well.
"The average wage of the low-income American would be higher. But some of those jobs wouldn't get done at all and output would be lower," said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's if immigration reform reduces the low-wage labor pool.
A crackdown in illegal immigration in 2004 caused a shortage of workers needed to bring in the lettuce crop in the Western United States, said Powell, which he said caused a $1 billion loss for the industry as many growers had to leave their fields unharvested.
"To hire Americans to do it, they would have had to raise wages so far, it wouldn't have been worth it for them," said Powell at the Independent Institute. "It caused less of a loss to leave the crop to rot."
As for complaints that many critics of immigration cite - demand for social and government services by immigrants - most economists believe that is outweighed by the increased economic activity, even if some specific school districts or public hospitals struggle with the costs associated serving the immigrant community.
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thoughts....
BTW from CNN.com |
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| XoxidE |
| Im skipping school today :p |
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| weymouth |
| I know around here, most immigrants only do jobs that no one else wants to do, a lot of jobs that the black community used to do. There are many large chicken plants in this area and the white people just don't want to do the jobs. |
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| grooviebeats |
| quote: | Originally posted by weymouth
I know around here, most immigrants only do jobs that no one else wants to do, a lot of jobs that the black community used to do. There are many large chicken plants in this area and the white people just don't want to do the jobs. |
my dad has chicken plants in ga where he lives and he said the all of them have shut down for the day since all of the wokers are mexicans and none came to work. |
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| DJ RJT |
I'll be really interested to see how this all pans out... Have millions of immigrants really decided to stay home today?
:conf: |
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| grooviebeats |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RJT
I'll be really interested to see how this all pans out... Have millions of immigrants really decided to stay home today?
:conf: |
smal pic form the ATL
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RJT
I'll be really interested to see how this all pans out... Have millions of immigrants really decided to stay home today?
:conf: |
There's probably a whole whack of illegals running around to different places offering to work even cheaper then the illegals that took the day off. |
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| DJ RJT |
I guess I just see this as one of those things that's really all or nothing.
If they have this massive showing and outpouring of support, and people's days are genuinely disrupted by not having an immigrant at their disposal, then perhaps the "Day without an Immigrant" will be considered a success.
If a couple thousand folks come out, but the majority choose to still go to work/school/shop, then in reality it just appears to be one gigantic miserable failure to me. |
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RJT
people's days are genuinely disrupted by not having an immigrant at their disposal |
Isn't that truely the American dream.... to have an immigrant at your disposal.... If I ever move to the states I'll get one..... name him Raul.... 'cause it's fun to say.... |
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| nchs09 |
| im going to work :s |
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| Lira |
| Anarchy in the UK!!! |
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| DJ RJT |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
Isn't that truely the American dream.... to have an immigrant at your disposal.... If I ever move to the states I'll get one..... name him Raul.... 'cause it's fun to say.... |
I guess that was kind of the point of my post... :p
I don't know, I realize this is a HUGE issue right now with the hot political debate in America being whether or not to send our illegal immigrants back to where they came from, but honestly, nothing is going to happen. This day isn't going to change anything in the long run.
The immigrants aren't going to leave of their own volition - The reason they're (At least a majority of immigrants) here is because regardless of what disgusting job they're doing, their quality of life is "better" here. So I guess I don't really see the point of this whole display, because honestly if they want us to know what it's like to live without our immigrant population, it's going to take a lot more than a day. And that's never going to happen because when it comes down to it, the vast majoirty of our immigrant population would rather live under the radar, doing absolute rubbish jobs, and staying in America than head back to the conditions they were living in previously.
These kinds of demonstrations don't carry as much weight as they once did, and this one in particular seems exceptionally hollow. Is this supposed to be a threat that they'll all just up and leave, and that we should think "Oh My God where would we be without them? Come back immigrants, let us cuddle you into the idea of staying here!" I'm sorry, but at the end of the day the immigrant, whatever you want to call him or her, is still going to go back to work, and in my eyes, it kind of defeats the purpose.
I'm not saying we should get rid of the immigrant population, I'm not saying that I think we could really just instantly do without the millions of immigrants who do a lot of jobs I'd rather not do. What I am saying, is that this "gesture" is one of the more empty and least thought through political displays I've ever seen.
Edit: I should make note that I am referring to ILLEGAL immigrants throughout this post. |
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