By Peter Kirsanow
The Senate has begun debate on the proposed
immigration reform bill. If this bill becomes law, there is one likely
outcome for low-skilled West Virginia workers: Disaster.
The assurances of the bill's proponents that the bill will somehow help
the economy obscure copious evidence that the bill will wreak enormous
damage to the employment prospects of American workers who have already
seen their wages and employment rates plummet over the last several
years.
Indeed, it is no secret that the employment picture for low-skilled
workers is abysmal. The national unemployment rate has been above 7.5
percent for more than four years and millions have dropped out of the
workforce entirely. Among those without a high school diploma, the
unemployment rate in May reached 11.1 percent, and for blacks without a
high school diploma, it is more than 24 percent. The labor-force
participation rate is at historic lows and long-term unemployment is the
worst since the Great Depression. The workweek is shrinking, as well as
wage rates. Barely one in two adult black males has a full-time job. A
record 47 million people are on food stamps.
The immigration reform bill has the potential to make things even worse.
Not only will the bill grant amnesty to 11 million illegal immigrants,
it will act as a magnet for future illegal immigration and substantially
increase the number of legal immigrants. It is conservatively estimated
that the bill will result in 30 million to 33 million additional
immigrants over the next 10 years.
The bill is structured so that most of the immigrants will be
low-skilled. These immigrants will compete with Americans in the
low-skilled labor markets. The competition is most fierce in some of the
industries in which blacks historically have been highly concentrated,
such as construction, agriculture and service. Since the supply of
low-skilled workers already exceeds the demand, the massive influx in
low-skilled immigrants bodes ill for all such workers, but particularly
black males. Evidence adduced before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
shows that immigration accounts for 40 percent of the 18-point
percentage decline in black employment rates over the last several
decades -- the bulk of the decline occurring among black males. That's
hundreds of thousands of blacks thrown out of work; hundreds of
thousands who can't support their families without taxpayer assistance.
The evidence adduced by the commission shows that not only does illegal
immigration depress the employment levels of low-skilled Americans, it
drives down the wages for available jobs. For example, an economist for
the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta estimated that as a result of the
growth of undocumented workers, the annual earnings of actual documented
workers in Georgia in 2007 were $960 lower than they were in 2000. In
the leisure hospitality sectors of the economy, the wages were $1,520
lower.
A $960 annual decrease in wages may not seem like much to some members
of Congress, but as President Obama observed when he signed the
extension of the payroll tax cut in 2012, an extra $80 a month makes a
big difference to many families. It means $80 more toward rent,
groceries and the cost of gasoline. Besides, why should American workers
suffer any decline in their wages because of illegal immigration?
Recent history shows that a grant of legal status to illegal immigrants
results in a further influx of illegal immigrants who will crowd out
low-skilled workers from the workforce. Contrary to the mythology
promoted by some supporters of the bill, this isn't because low-skill
Americans -- regardless of race -- are unwilling to work. It's because
they're unwilling to work at the cut-rate wages (and often substandard
conditions) offered to illegal immigrants -- a cohort highly unlikely to
complain to the EEOC, OSHA or the Wage and Hour Division of the
Department of Labor. This inexorably increases the number of low-skill
Americans depending upon the government for subsistence, swells the
ranks of the unemployed and reduces the wages of those that do have a
job.
Before the federal government grants legal status to illegal immigrants,
serious deliberation must be given to the affect such grant will have
on the employment and earnings prospects of low-skilled Americans.
History shows that granting such legal status is not without profound
and substantial costs to American workers.
Does Congress care?
Related:
Civil Rights Commission: "Granting Illegal Immigrants Effective Amnesty Would 'Harm Lower-Skilled African-Americans'"
Make Marco Rubio Eat His Own Words
A Fair Warning To Those Promoting Open Borders, Amnesty, & Free Immigration
Immigration Reform: If The Past Is Prologue...
Yes, Immigration Can Bring Huge Benefits, But On This Scale And At This Speed, It's Too Much To Cope With
Immigration & The Town That Stopped Mincing Words
The Non-Existent Immigration Crisis
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