Immigration costs U.S. men

[Tsyroc]

The Arizona Daily Star

Immigration costs U.S. men

They lost average $1,700 in annual wages by 2000

Immigration wage impact

Percentage loss in the wages of groups of U.S.-born American men due to immigration by the year 2000.

High-school dropouts -7.4%

High-school graduates and workers with some college -2%

College graduates -3.6%

Hispanics -5%

Blacks -4.5%

Source: Report by Harvard University economist George J. Borjas


WASHINGTON - Two decades' growth in the supply of immigrant workers cost native-born American men an average $1,700 in annual wages by the year 2000, a top economist has concluded.

Hispanic and black Americans were hurt most by the influx of foreign-born workers, says a new report by Harvard University's George J. Borjas, considered a leading authority on the impact of immigration.

The findings, to be released today, could influence wide-ranging immigration proposals now being urged by lawmakers and the White House.

Congressional Democrats plan today to launch comprehensive legislation whose provisions would legalize immigrant workers already here, guarantee labor rights and allow an increased flow of legal, temporary foreign workers.

Earlier this year, President Bush announced his own massive overhaul for immigration that would offer temporary legal status to workers now here and open the door for greater numbers of "willing workers" from abroad to take temporary jobs in America.

Neither the Democratic nor the Bush version is expected to win congressional approval anytime soon. But both sides have used the issue to appeal to the immigrant community this election year.

In his report, Borjas suggests that either proposal would have an "adverse" effect on American workers at all levels of education and job skills.

"What past immigration has done - and what the temporary worker program will continue to do on a potentially larger scale - is to depress wages and increase profits of the firms that employ the immigrants," Borjas said.

"The reduction in earnings occurs regardless of whether the immigrants are legal or illegal, permanent or temporary," said Borjas. "It is the presence of additional workers that reduces wages, not their legal status."

Other economists called his findings significant, although some cautioned about drawing far-reaching implications.

"I think he's got the sign right, if not the magnitude," said Jared Bernstein, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a research group financed by labor unions.

The Borjas study concluded that U.S.-born high school dropouts suffered the most - a 7.4 percent drop in annual wages by the year 2000.

For high school graduates and workers with some college, the loss was a little more than 2 percent. And for college graduates, wages were held back an average 3.6 percent.

Borjas found that U.S.-born Hispanic workers saw their wages reduced by an average 5 percent, and U.S.-born blacks experienced a 4.5 percent drop. These two groups faced the most direct competition from foreign-born workers, he said.

Borjas, himself an immigrant from Cuba, said the data show that Mexican immigration "accounts for virtually the entire adverse impact" on wages lost by American-born high school dropouts. Workers with only a high school diploma would have lost less than 1 percent of their 2000 wages, he said.

The Mexican-born population in the 2000 census was counted at 9.2 million. Of that total, an estimated 4.8 million were illegal residents, according to U.S. immigration authorities.

The report, an updated version of an article in the Quarterly Journal of Economics late last year, is being published by the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan research group that favors lower levels of immigration.

The Borjas study on the impact is unusually bleak when compared to others' research, said the Economic Policy Institute's Bernstein.

Moreover, Bernstein said that immigration reform proposals, which include legalization for foreign workers already here, could change the equation by improving immigrants' status and wages.

Even so, Bernstein said the study could be seen as a warning against any reform that encourages higher levels of immigration. "If it does, I think it's legitimate to be concerned about the wage impact," he said.

American University economist Robert Lerman, a senior fellow at the generally pro-immigration Urban Institute, said Borjas had made a "fine study" of the wage effects for 1980 through 2000 but added that his conclusions might not hold for the next two decades.

"We're going to have a big slowdown in the growth of the work force," he said, adding that it is "unclear" whether that will be good for current U.S. workers.

[BoyRocketeer]

actually I'm more worried about outsourcing than incoming immigrants.

[frigidmagi]

I'm worried about both. I'd like to see a guest worker program, because they're here and it's not going away. Also the level of immigrant worker abuse is high, guest worker programs would help to police that.

At the same time U.S. citizens deserve to be able to support their families. There needs to be way that we can cover both the rights of the guest worker and the need for our own citizens to be able to support themselves.

As for the outsoucreers, they want to slash cost and keep the same price for a market that they're removing income from, can we say dumb?

[Col. Crackpot]

the flip side is the gains made in hot sexy Mexican chicas! Ay, que sabrosa!

[desertjedi]

Do you know the easiest wayto stem the tide of illegal immigrations? Enforce the laws that are already on the books. I think Arizona is a bit harsher on the immigration issue than most states (they have a law going into effect that will heavily penalilze a business that is found to have knowingly hired illegal immigrants).

Personally, I live in an area where illegals are a way of life here. Working in the fields picking lettuce and melons is hard dirty work, but they do get paid way more then minimum wage. I used to see most of them having breakfast and gambling in the morning before the bus would pick them up to take them to the fields.

[frigidmagi]

Considering that INS agents have been fired on by the Mexican Army on US soil and the feds don't seem to care...

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!

[Alyrium Denryle]

The reason immigrant workers get hired is because they will work for less than Min mage... So, simple solution is to lower/abolish the min wage and... ACK GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY THROAT!!!

[frigidmagi]

You know why we have the min wage right? You need to make a certain amount of money to provide a living. Even if it's just you that you're worried about.

[Darth Wong]

Where would we get fresh beautiful females for our porn industry if not for eastern Europe?

[Tsyroc]

Where would we get fresh beautiful females for our porn industry if not for eastern Europe?

The women can come the guys have to stay there.

[RogueIce]

Where would we get fresh beautiful females for our porn industry if not for eastern Europe?

The women can come the guys have to stay there.

Bleh, we need more diversity in the pron industry. Damn it, of most of the porn I've seen, it's either all-white, all-black, all-Asian, etc. Occassionally, Hispanic women get thrown into the mix.

Not to say it is this way all the time, but that's what 90% of the (admittedly limited...for now) porn I've seen (and box art too).

But maybe this is a seperate topic?

[BoyRocketeer]

Where would we get fresh beautiful females for our porn industry if not for eastern Europe?

They can have their own porn industry and we'll then import the stuff here.

[Jadeite]

The reason immigrant workers get hired is because they will work for less than Min mage... So, simple solution is to lower/abolish the min wage and... ACK GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY THROAT!!!

You based that on one of the Nationstates issues didn't you?