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Posted on 09/05/2007 12:43:48 PM PDT by Between the Lines
As South Carolina's Hispanic population has grown, one measurement of wages for all workers has dropped, a University of South Carolina study released last week found.
While study authors would not attribute all of the drop to immigration, their findings were similar to research done elsewhere.
The S.C. median annual wage, adjusted for inflation, dropped 3.1 percent to $28,039 between 2000 and 2005, a period when the state experienced rapid growth in its Hispanic population. The median is the midpoint at which half of all salaries would be above that figure and half below.
Pay in construction, the dominant field for Hispanics, slipped 5 percent for all S.C. workers during what was a record housing boom. Construction wages for Hispanics fell by more than twice that.
"When an industry is booming like this, you expect to see wages increase, not decline like this," said Doug Woodward, a research economist at the USC Moore School of Business. Woodward wrote the study with Elaine Lacy of the USC Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies.
Woodward said the study supported the notion that Hispanic workers were willing to take less desirable jobs, such as slaughtering chickens or roofing during hot S.C. summers, for lower wages.
"What we're doing here in South Carolina is importing cheap labor to our economy," Woodward said.
However, Woodward did not tie the wage decrease to the Hispanic population, which makes up 3.3 percent of S.C.'s 4.1 million residents. He also cited the state's higher-than-average level of workers who do not have a high school or college diploma.
The report, based on surveys of 503 Hispanics and examination of federal and S.C. population data, is the first comprehensive examination of the state's fastest-growing population.
While survey respondents were not asked about their legal status, the study aimed to add facts to what often has been an emotional immigration debate, the authors said.
"It's very important, before we consider any legislation or before we make any change on how to handle this population" that we get the facts, Woodward said.
Study findings were released during the S.C. Minority Affairs Commission's 2007 Statewide Conference on Hispanic/Latino Issues. The commission, a state agency, funded the report.
The majority of S.C. Hispanics are Mexican and male and have lived in the state less than five years.
S.C. Hispanics worked mostly in construction, animal slaughtering and landscaping, the study found.
Hispanic construction employment between 2000 and 2005 nearly doubled, while wages dropped 12.1 percent for those workers.
Hispanic construction workers were paid $10,600 a year less than the state average when adjusted for inflation, the USC survey found.
Also examined was Hispanics' impact on the state's education and health systems and social services.
Lacy said 3.7 percent of South Carolina's nearly 700,000 public school students are Hispanic. In health care, 74 percent of Hispanics did not have health insurance, though they reported they rarely visited doctors or hospitals.
"At this point in time, there doesn't appear to be an undue burden on our state from the rising Latino population," Woodward said.
Hispanic Immigrants in S.C.
135,041 Census estimate of Hispanics living in the state.
62% S.C. Hispanics of Mexican origin.
4.8 years Average stay in South Carolina.
65% Hispanic immigrants who are male.
5.1 people Size of average Hispanic household.
75% Hispanics who don't speak English or who say their English skills are poor.
When you take into account being paid in cash and not paying taxes, its not so bad.
>>Drop in pay greater for Hispanics than others<<
Good, I hope they feel the pain considering how they like to come out and wave their Mexican flags in our face.
A drop in wages also = lower tax base.
So lower tax base + increase in demand for services = budget deficit.
Not if they’re legal Hispanics, though. The illegals also make it tough on Hispanics who are here legally (and who are welcome).
ping
“At this point in time, there doesn’t appear to be an undue burden on our state from the rising Latino population,” Woodward said.
Liar.
Well, Duh! Why pay decent wages to legal residents when you can hire illegals for a fraction? Was this not common knowledge?
Of course. Wouldn’t YOU love to have your income tax free?
While study authors would not attribute all of the drop to immigration,
of course not.....because the missing and unstated other ingredient is having shipped our industrial base and it’s jobs to third world countries.....which in turn hoists Wall Street up on what soon will be its petard.
Woodward is NOT very good at reading between the lines.
LAPD Most Wanted = 74% Hispanic
Immigration Counters (Real-Time Data Resource Center)
The Unpleasant FACTS ARE
>>Both studies found that immigrants used government services at a greater rate than native-born residents did. The New Jersey study found, for instance, that the typical immigrant family received about $4,044 annually in government services, about 11 percent higher than the average native-born family. At the same time, immigrant households paid about 8 percent less in taxes. The net result was that “the average native household generated an annual fiscal surplus of $232” to government, while “the typical foreign household was a net burden of $1,484.” The gap was even wider in California, where immigrant households produced a net deficit of $3,463 each, because so much of that state’s recent immigration had been in the form of low-wage, low-skill workers.
Though the study did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants, it did break down foreign-born households by the regions of the world from which they had come. In both states, the study found the steepest deficit in Latin American households, which in New Jersey consumed 26 percent more in government expenditures than the average native-born family, but paid 38 percent less in taxes. By contrast, immigrant households in New Jersey that hailed from Europe or Canada actually consumed, on average, less in government services than the typical native-born family, and paid nearly as much in taxes.<<
Source: http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-08-29sm.html
Wait a minute, I thought they were all here to pick vegetables. Since when are construction and landscaping and poultry processing “jobs Americans won’t do”???? Sure, Americans won’t do them for $5 an hour with no benefits, but all of these jobs used to be filled by Americans making decent wages.
You better be careful, you’re making way too much sense. “Captain Obvious” might come after you too, lol.
“Of course. Wouldn’t YOU love to have your income tax free?”
Wouldn’t I, though? One-third of my earnings disappear before I receive the check. Then, of course, come the sales taxes of almost nine percent plus property tax.
And I’m supposed to feel pity for the poor illegals who live in the shadows and are paid under the table while they receive benefits paid for by tax dollars? Sometimes the quality of mercy is indeed strained, especially in the face of obnoxious demands like those of Elvira.
I saw an interview the other day with some guy from the AFL-CIO. He was talking about an illegal housekeeper working in a hotel in New York City that was making $22 and has benefits.
I looked at my hubby and said there are plenty of Americans who would love to have that job.
That ‘jobs Americans won’t/aren’t doing’ is pure BS.
The reason they aren’t doing them is they can’t get them for the dam illegals.
good post. since when do americans not want to work in construction? and I get tired of hearing mexicans saying ‘we helped build america.” - helping build a bunch of mcmansions and strip malls the last 10 years IS NOT BUILDING AMERICA!! there was plenty of stuff built prior to the 90s.
“As South Carolina’s Hispanic population has grown”
I always knew we had a just God...
Now Lindsey Graham knows it too...
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
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