Evidence Shows that Immigration Does Not Increase Unemployment

Originally posted at Immigration Impact, a project launched in 2008 by the American Immigration Council to help shape and develop a rational conversation on immigration that shifts the terms of the debate towards achieving workable and effective comprehensive policy reform.

Busting the Myth of the “Job Stealing” Immigrant

by Walter Ewing

Some critics of the immigration bill now winding its way through the Senate claim that it would increase

unemployment among native-born workers—especially minorities—by adding more immigrants to an already tight job market. In fact, both the legalization and “future flow” provisions of the bill would empower immigrant workers to spend more, invest more, and pay more in taxes—all of which would create new jobs. Contrary to the simplistic arithmetic of immigration restrictionists, employment is not a “zero sum” game in which workers compete for some fixed number of jobs. All workers are also consumers, taxpayers, and—in many cases—entrepreneurs who engage in job-creating economic activity every day.

If immigrants really “took” jobs away from large numbers of native-born workers, especially during economic hard times, then one would expect to find high unemployment rates in those parts of the country with large numbers of immigrants—especially immigrants who have come to the United States recently and, presumably, are more willing to work for lower wages and under worse conditions than either long-term immigrants or native-born workers. Yet there islittle apparent relationship between recent immigration and unemployment rates at the regional, state, or county level. An IPC analysis of 2011 data from the American Community Survey found that, at the county level, there is no statistically significant relationship between the unemployment rate and the presence of recent immigrants who arrived in 2000 or later.

The principal reason unemployment is not the automatic byproduct of immigration is that immigrants and native-born workers fill different kinds of jobs which require different skills. Even among less-educated workers, immigrants and native-born workers tend to work in different occupations and industries. If they do work in the same occupation or industry—or even the same business—they usually specialize in different tasks, with native-born workers taking higher-paid jobs that require better English-language skills than many immigrant workers possess. In other words, immigrants and native-born workers usually complement each other rather than compete. As data from the 2012 Current Population Survey illustrates, most foreign-born workers differ from most native-born workers in terms of what occupations they work in, where in the country they live, and how much education they have. What this means in practical terms is that most native-born workers are not directly competing for jobs with immigrant workers because they are in different labor markets.

This is true even in the case of immigrants and African Americans who live in the same urban areas. An analysis of 2010 Census data by Saint Louis University economist Jack Strauss found that cities with greater immigration from Latin America experience lower unemployment rates, lower poverty rates, and higher wages among African Americans. Latino immigrants and African Americans fill complementary roles in the labor market—they are not simply substitutes for one another. In addition, cities which have suffered the effects of declining population are rejuvenated by an inflow of Latino immigrants who increase the labor force, tax base, and consumer base.

The grim job market which confronts many minority workers is the product of numerous economic and social factors: the decline of factory employment, the deindustrialization of inner cities, and racial discrimination, among others. Immigration plays a very small role. According to Yale University economist Gerald D. Jaynes, the impact on less-educated native-born workers of competition with immigrant workers “is swamped by a constellation of other factors (such as declining factory jobs and other blue-collar employment).” Jaynes and a colleague “launched a large-scale statistical analysis to measure immigration’s effects on wages and employment of natives nationwide. To our surprise, no matter how we approached the data, our results showed either no effects or very modest effects for the least-educated black men.”

Immigration restrictionists conveniently overlook the fact that immigrants create jobs as consumers and entrepreneurs. Immigrant workers spend their wages in U.S. businesses—buying food, clothes, appliances, cars, etc. Businesses respond to the presence of these new workers and consumers by investing in new restaurants, stores, and production facilities. And immigrants are 30 percent more likely than the native-born to start their own business. The end result is more jobs for more workers. Economist Giovanni Peri of the University of California, Davis, concludes that “immigrants expand the U.S. economy’s productive capacity, stimulate investment, and promote specialization that in the long run boosts productivity,” and “there is no evidence that these effects take place at the expense of jobs for workers born in the United States.”

Critics of the Senate bill who raise the specter of mass unemployment need to learn how labor-force dynamics really work.

Read more »

Declining Cities Look to Immigrants to Revitalize Economies and Increase University Enrollment

Originally posted at Immigration Impact.  Immigration Impact is a project of the American Immigration Council whose mission is to strengthen America by honoring our immigrant history and shaping how Americans think about and act towards immigration now and in the future.

Declining Cities Look to Immigrants to Revitalize Economies and Increase University Enrollment

In a recent speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg highlighted the vital role immigrants play in stimulating economic growth. Bloomberg called for immigration policies that “spur innovation, increase the number of entrepreneurs who start businesses here, and create jobs for Americans on every rung of the economic ladder.” With U.S. unemployment still hovering around 9%, some declining U.S. cities are also looking to harness the economic and entrepreneurial power of immigrants. Small towns, particularly in America’s rust belt, are contemplating programs that attract immigrant growth in hopes of revitalizing their towns and universities.

Take Dayton, Ohio, which is facing its lowest population level since 1920. State legislators are voting this week on whether to pursue the “Welcome Dayton Plan”—a new campaign designed to encourage immigration and economic growth. The plan includes the expansion of integration services, like interpretation services at city departments, as well as public events geared toward immigrants. Tom Wahlrab of Dayton’s Human Relations Department believes the city should welcome such a campaign.

“I believe the city of Dayton is at a crossroads,” said Wahlrab, according to the Dayton Daily News. “We can either welcome them, help integrate them, help them on the path to citizenship, or we can let old stereotypes and fears and preconceptions hinder our success.”

Ohio isn’t alone. Over a decade ago, Iowa faced a declining population and passed proposals to make Iowa an “immigration enterprise zone.” According to the New York Times, “in recent years, immigrants from Bosnia, Sudan, and especially Mexico have been the only reason Iowa’s population has had any net growth.”

These new immigration initiatives also focus on increasing college and university enrollment. In early 2011, Michigan’s governor organized a program called “Global Michigan,” an effort to target international students and skilled immigrants in response to population decline. And for good reason. Back in 2002, the struggling mill town of Lewiston, Maine saw the influx of roughly 3,500 Somali immigrants—a population who not only opened new businesses and contributed to the local economy and job growth, but increased university enrollment by nearly 16% from 2002 to 2007.

As small towns across America continue to face high unemployment rates, sluggish economies and decreasing populations, campaigns that welcome and integrate immigrants rather than drive them away may result in the new business, job and economic growth these declining cities so desperately need.

Photo by Brandon Florkey.

LINK: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/10/03/declining-cities-look-to-immigrants-to-revitalize-economies-and-increase-university-enrollment/

Read more »

New Ad Shows Negative Effects of Anti-immigrant Laws

A community organization, Mexicans & Americans Thinking Together (www.matt.org), developed a 30 second commercial called “Drive Them Out” for a coalition of businesses in Northern Virginia.

The ad tells the story of Riverside, New Jersey where a law was passed penalizing any business that hired undocumented workers and any tenant that provided housing to these immigrants and their families.

After 1 year, with 75% of the immigrants leaving town and 45% of the businesses closing their doors, the city rescinded the law in effort to avoid disaster due to its failing economy.

The commercial concludes with a message for NoVa residents: “Today, dozens of other municipalities are re-thinking such laws. The moral, Virginia let’s be careful what we wish for.”

The ad can be viewed here

Thanks to KJ over at ImmigrationProg Blog for passing this story along.

Read more »