Posted on 06/16/2004 10:06:59 AM PDT by Shermy
WASHINGTON -- Immigrants are filling nearly three out of every 10 new jobs in the rebounding U.S. economy, a development that may dilute the political dividend to President Bush from an election-year recovery, a study to be released today concludes.
The report by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center found that workers who are not U.S. citizens claimed 378,496 jobs out of a net increase of 1.3 million from the first three months of 2003 through the first three months of this year.
The share of jobs going to noncitizens -- 28.5 percent -- was particularly notable because workers who are not U.S. citizens account for less than 9 percent of all those holding jobs in the United States.
"The proportion of new jobs captured by noncitizens was ... much larger than their share of overall employment," said the report, prepared by labor economist Rakesh Kochhar. "Thus, the political impact of job gains may be damped by the fact that noncitizens are benefiting disproportionately from the turnaround in the labor market."
Roberto Suro, director of the center, said that "the turnaround is being fueled to a substantial extent by the demand for immigrant labor. And as a result, a substantial chunk of the new jobs are going to people who are not voters."
The study is likely to sharpen the debate about the role of immigrant workers in the United States, the quality of new jobs and the impact of globalization. Most economists have tended to minimize the impact of large numbers of immigrants entering the U.S. job market, but the Pew findings may bolster those who challenge that view.
The high proportion of new jobs going to recent immigrants may reflect the fact that the current recovery has thus far been different from most past upturns. In recent months, as overall job growth has begun to improve, most of the new jobs appear to have come in categories that require relatively low skills and pay relatively low wages -- the kinds of jobs for which new immigrants are strong competitors.
In the past, the early stages of economic recoveries have been marked by growth in industrial jobs that pay above-average wages.
Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute think-tank, said his analysis supports the idea that "the occupations that are gaining are on the low end."
He said his research shows the recovery has not paid much of a dividend in terms of rising wages. "We see wage growth far less than you would expect at this stage," he said.
The Pew report also found that, although recent Hispanic immigrants are gaining jobs, the weekly earnings of Hispanics as a whole -- including the native-born and those who are long-term U.S. residents -- have declined in comparison to those of whites and blacks.
The center, which specializes in social and economic research on the U.S. Hispanic population, based its findings on an analysis of government surveys used to determine the unemployment rate. The study is the first to compare the job gains of citizens and noncitizens in the current economic recovery.
The underlying data used in the report do not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. However, a large proportion of Hispanic workers who arrived recently are believed to be undocumented. An estimated 8 million to 12 million U.S. residents are illegal immigrants.
Bush and Democratic congressional leaders are on record as favoring more liberal U.S. immigration policies.
Bush has proposed a guest-worker program open to illegal immigrants already here and to migrants wishing to come in the future; guest workers could stay for as many as six years. Democrats favor granting green cards to illegal immigrants already here, but restricting the entry of future guest workers.
Proponents of restricting immigration said the findings suggest that a broader cross-section of U.S. employers has developed a preference for undocumented workers.
"When we think about job creation, that it must be good for Americans, that may not be what's going on exactly," said Steven Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors curbs on immigration.
Others said the data is too narrow to support such sweeping conclusions. Demographer Jeffrey Passel of the Urban Institute think tank noted that the U.S. economy employs about 130 million workers. In that context, a change of 400,000 jobs, or even 1.3 million, is relatively minor, he said.
"It may look like some group is going gangbusters, when it really is a rather small change," Passel said.
Ping.
Proponents of restricting immigration said the findings suggest that a broader cross-section of U.S. employers has developed a preference for undocumented workers.
undocumented workers=illegal aliens... of course because you can pay them less
The underlying data used in the report do not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. However, a large proportion of Hispanic workers who arrived recently are believed to be undocumented. An estimated 8 million to 12 million U.S. residents are illegal immigrants.
***Perhaps they SHOULD distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants. Why aren't they? Hmmmmmm
ping
"The Pew report also found that, although recent Hispanic immigrants are gaining jobs, the weekly earnings of Hispanics as a whole -- including the native-born and those who are long-term U.S. residents -- have declined in comparison to those of whites and blacks."
This statement is a classic case of economic ignorance in journalism. If the supply of cheap Hispanic labor is increasing by at least a million each year from immigration then the wages of this category of worker will drop and employers are more willing to hire them. There is no contradiction in Hispanis gaining jobs and wages falling!!!! These people need to take Econ 101 and learn about basic supply and demand theory.
Of course they are. ......Trolling for Latino votes, and making sure their campaign donors get their cheap (illegal) labor.
"The underlying data used in the report do not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. However, a large proportion of Hispanic workers who arrived recently are believed to be undocumented. An estimated 8 million to 12 million U.S. residents are illegal immigrants."
I don't know that I believe Pew.
We are supposed to take their other precise sounding stat seriously while this one has a 33% variance?
Also, since when do employers report hiring illegal aliens?
Where did they get the 1/3 stat from?
"The report by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center found that workers who are not U.S. citizens claimed 378,496 jobs out of a net increase of 1.3 million from the first three months of 2003 through the first three months of this year."
This is dusgusting! Any company found to be employing an illegal should be fined $100,000 for the first infraction $200,000 for the second, $300,000 for the third and so on.
Good points
Those are "jobs Americans won't do".
From President George "doing jobs Americans won't do" Bush.
Yeah, sure; I can just see Kerry running ads saying the Bush economic recovery is bad because Mexicans are getting too many of the jobs.
Only hard core racists will resent Hispanics for working at new jobs. Pat Buchanan might be able to swing ten votes against Bush because of this study.
If we didn't have jobs, they wouldn't come here. Of course then we would be giving them foreign aid instead of the 69.1 Billion they are sending home in cash now.
Here part of an old essay I wrote;
When a person sends dollars earned in America to a foreign country this takes it out of our economic rotation system.
When you and I spend $10.00 in a local store that ten dollars gets rotated through at least seven different businesses or individuals hands before it stops the rotation at the US Treasury.
The local store owner might use it as wages, or to buy replenishment stock, to pay any number of fees or local taxes, buy gasoline or food at a local store, pay a bank loan. You name it. The $10.00 then will be loaned out again for someone to locally buy a car or home, or to a local road or home contractor, and on the cycle goes.
When the $10.00 goes to Mexico or India, it does not rotate in our economy, it does in Mexico's or India's though. That builds Mexico's or India's economy NOT ours.
The amount of money that is rotating in the daily cycle is one thing that controls our interest rates.
Take the 12 billion dollars that is going to Mexico and assume it only passes through corporate hands being taxed at 15% not the 35% personal rate that you and I pay.
The loss to our economy in taxes alone from a single 12B transfer is 18 million dollars. When that 12B passes thru seven different corporations the loss to America would be multiplied by the average profit gain of each corporation. There is no proper way that I know of to calculate the exact loss of business profits due to that cash NOT flowing through other American corporate accounts. (I'm sure someone does) I would estimate overall average business profits should be somewhere between 4% and 10% so there's another $48 to $120 million lost by the wayside in unearned income and unpaid taxes to our government.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1059815/posts.
LOL if Kerry ever runs an ad campaign like that, I'll kiss Hillary's butt in public.
With 50% of this going to a whistleblower! More - if an illegal immigrant comes with the information he should be rewarded too and get a green card in addition. Employers would stop illegal hiring very quickly.
Funny how the unemployment rate has still fallen under Bush even if you believe these figures. Either illegal immigrants shouldn't be counted in computing the unemployment figure in the first place, or not included in this survey of EMployment. Either way, the Bush recovery is well underway.
Ronald Reagan
Oct 30, 1984
"Today we're part of a coalition of people who share some values that are traditional to America. Whether our forefathers and mothers came here from a Latin country, or from Africa, or from Asia, or from Europe -- in my case, I guess it's Europe, Ireland and England -- we hold dear those ideas that brought our forebears here. We're bound together by a love of family and neighborhood and a respect for God. We believe in hard work and peace through strength. And these are not Republican values, these are American.
Our opponents don't seem to see things this way. They view our country not as people of varied backgrounds who share common values and aspirations; instead, they see us as warring factions and interest groups. They try to divide us, using envy, and playing people off against each other by telling us we're competing for a piece of a pie that is ever getting smaller. Well, that's not our way. We don't see people as members of this group or that; we see them as Americans, with all the rights and opportunities that go with being American.
"
It's not the race that is resented but their legal status.
Since there are anywhere from 8 to 12 million illegal aliens just from mexico in the U.S. it is safe to say that the majority of those 3 in 10 jobs are not going to legal immigrants.
Isn't it better to have them working than collecting welfare?
Yup I agree. It is better than living off of welfare.
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