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WaPo wonders: What will hundreds of thousands of job permits do to the economy?
Hotair ^ | 06/16/2012 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 06/17/2012 6:29:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

I asked the same question in an update to Erika’s post on Barack Obama's unilateral move to accommodate young illegal immigrants by refusing to deport them and issue them temporary work permits instead. With potentially as many as 800,000 new workers flooding into the system, what happens to the millions of Americans who can't find work now? The Washington Post wonders the same thing, and more:

President Obama has just opened a floodgate of opportunity for young illegal immigrants in the United States, but could it squeeze the aspirations of legal Americans in the process? ...

Under the new policy, as many as 1.4 million undocumented immigrants under age 30 will be able to apply for the amnesty, allowing them to work and attend college legally. To be eligible, they must have been in the United States for five years, have no criminal record, and attend high school or college or be a military veteran.

The policy does not provide permanent legal residency, but it protects those who qualify from being deported and gives them a chance to renew their new status every two years. It also does not grant any public benefits, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Federal law already grants all undocumented immigrants the right to a public-school education and emergency hospital care.

The new policy could entail additional costs for administration and enforcement, however, and put pressure on state systems of higher education to meet growing demand for slots.

A move like this might have made sense in 2005-6, when the civilian participation rate in the workforce was near its all-time high (around 66.2% at that time), with unemployment in the 5% range, and labor so tight that hourly wages on entry level positions were constantly rising. American businesses would have welcomed a larger pool of legal workers and the competition wouldn’t have put others out of work or forced them to work for significantly less money. People would have opposed it for other reasons, but economically speaking, it wouldn’t have had a tremendously negative impact, at least not in the short term.

But now? We’re not creating enough jobs to keep up with population growth as it is. With this new policy in place, Obama will introduce hundreds of thousands of suddenly-eligible workers into an economy with an 8.2% nominal unemployment rate, a 14.8% U-6 un/underemployed rate, with a civilian participation rate that has plummeted from 65.7% at the start of the Obama recovery in June 2009 (the same as it was when he took office, too) to 63.8%, lower than it was when Reagan faced his first midterm election. Those who are already struggling to find jobs are not only going to face more competition for those slots, the glut of labor will depress entry-level wages even further.

Don’t make the mistake of dismissing the short-term benefits of this move for Barack Obama. When a chief executive “takes the bull by the horns” and acts in a strong manner, he will usually get rewarded with a bump upward in approval and support. Americans like to see leaders lead, which is the reason incumbent Presidents have such an advantage in re-election efforts. It’s also no secret that the Latino community had grown angry with the increased rate of deportations in the Obama administration, and this will heal a breach that Obama can’t afford in November. But this has a large potential for backfire — and if jobs reports this summer continue the downward trend we’ve been seeing this year, those 23 million Americans who already feel locked out of the economy will be asking the same question the Post does this morning.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: immigration; jobless; unemployment; willworkforfood
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1 posted on 06/17/2012 6:29:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Politicians who persist in the practice of siding WITH foreigners AGAINST Americans do not deserve our votes.


2 posted on 06/17/2012 6:31:55 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: SeekAndFind

Here’s a thought. Since our congress is too cowardly to stop this, just don’t hire them.

Plenty of excuses to make and you’ll be sued by someone if you do or don’t so....


3 posted on 06/17/2012 6:32:56 AM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s a case of Us against Them — and Obama is one of Them.


4 posted on 06/17/2012 6:33:56 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (It's a case of Us against Them -- and Obama is one of Them.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Don’t worry your pretty little liberal minds about it, WaPo.

Just keep dragging out Woodward and Berstein trying to cement their pathetic Watergate Crap fame for the rest of their lives. I swear if I hear that homo Woodward one more time about the huge criminality of Nixon one more effing time, I’m gonna hurl.

If the homo wants criminality, he should look to the current WH. Holder, Axelrod, Obama, Jarrett, et al make the Nixon team look like Sunday school pikers.


5 posted on 06/17/2012 6:34:59 AM PDT by Gaffer
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: Norm Lenhart

Well, since the government will likely aide the ‘now-documented’ illegal in covering up the trail, it will be very difficult I imagine to sort the illegals from the citizens. Is this what hispanic citizens here want? Blanket non-hiring of hispanics because concerned business owners can’t sort it? Just sayin’......


7 posted on 06/17/2012 6:37:09 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: SeekAndFind
Better yet, are they going to use these added workers to justify the bad unemployment numbers? Poor Ba&tard, he, once again, is taking it on the chin, for his unselfish need for fairness.. What a guy!
8 posted on 06/17/2012 6:37:17 AM PDT by carlo3b (Home, is where the heart is..)
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To: SeekAndFind

What is it going to do to HOUSING? What is it going to do to HEALTH SERVICES? What is it going to do to TAXES? What is it going to do to LAW AND ORDER? This is a DISMISSAL of Law BY THOSE WHO ARE THE STEWARDS OF OUR LAW! Either Congress adress this illegality or they ALL answer to We The People!


9 posted on 06/17/2012 6:39:49 AM PDT by TalBlack ( Evil doesn't have a day job.)
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To: SeekAndFind
allowing them to work and attend college legally

So there's really no difference now - we move from not enforcing the law to - not enforcing the law.
10 posted on 06/17/2012 6:43:00 AM PDT by andyk (Go Juan Pablo!)
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To: Gaffer

The ‘work permit’ they show will make it easy to spot them. Just say truthfully ‘we have many apps for this position. We’ll review our options and call you.’

And the 1.4 million added to the ‘jobless’ rolls will really make an impact as has been mentioned.

Idiot screwed up big time with this. All the polls are in the 65-85% range against and that’s BEFORE people realize what this means financially to the country.


11 posted on 06/17/2012 6:43:21 AM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: muawiyah

So now the marxists in DC are creating voters out of illegal aliens by fiat in their latest attempt to subvert the Constitution and remain in control of the spoils.

It’s been all over but the shouting since 1865.

The degenerate crooks from both parties that put on a big show every campaign season and fight over who gets to control the money extorted from the sucker American taxpayers are evil incarnate.

DC and the Washingtonians are always the problem and will NEVER be the solution.

The sooner the inevitable collapse caused by ignoring the Founders and amending the Constitution to institute Universal Suffrage happens, the better. Then the Republic can be reset and the vote extended only to taxpayers and Veterans

The collapse will be when the SS and welfare checks stop coming.

The franchise must be limited and determined by the states.

Incorporate term limits and rotate the Capital amongst the States.

“Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.” James Madison

Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. John Adams: letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.:Thomas Jefferson


12 posted on 06/17/2012 6:45:57 AM PDT by Rome2000 (WILLARD ROMNEY -- MORMON MELCHIDEZEK BISHOP -HIS FAMILY HAS AVOIDED MILITARY SERVICE FOR GENERATIONS)
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To: SeekAndFind

Given the fact that this can be reversed with the stroke of a pen, I wonder how many illegals will register. Particularly given the fact that they won’t be deported if caught. Employers, sure, they’ll want to train an employee which could disappear in a year or two. College grad or not. My guess all it will do is increase the competition for lower paying jobs.


13 posted on 06/17/2012 6:48:15 AM PDT by SJackson (As a black man, you know, Barack could get shot going to the gas station, M Obama)
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To: Rome2000

What I wonder about is how many of these illegals have been voting already.

The incremental change may not be that large?


14 posted on 06/17/2012 6:49:37 AM PDT by nascarnation (t)
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To: Norm Lenhart
One would think they'd have a ‘work permit’ but you do realize that your government lies to you, keeps you purposefully in the dark, and will not give you information they legally should give you, don't you?

This government WILL make it impossible for the average American to distinguish these people from real citizens - take EBT cards for example replacing food stamps to make the stigma go away and make it harder for the average Joe to spot a leech at WalMart. Or, Section 8 housing where the government moves lowlifes into your neighborhood instead of putting them where they belong - in public housing.

The point I am making is that normal suppositions about government procedure do not consider collusion with WH goals in this deluded case. We won't be able to tell them apart from Adam, by normal documentation - mark my words, [GAFFER, June 17, 2012].

15 posted on 06/17/2012 6:55:11 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: SeekAndFind

Since these people are “undocumented”, by definition and must be engaged in either identity fraud or tax evasion in order to have worked to date, what’s to stop any illegal from stating they meet these minimal “requirements” and claim eligibility for this new program?


16 posted on 06/17/2012 6:56:52 AM PDT by chrisser (Starve the Monkeys!)
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To: SeekAndFind
When a chief executive “takes the bull by the horns” and acts in a strong manner, he will usually get rewarded with a bump upward in approval and support. Americans like to see leaders lead

Yo, Sheeple! Your "cool" president is "leading" this country straight to perdition. Over the cliff and down into the spiritual (and economic) abyss.

The important thing, though, is that he is hip and (half) Black, so everything he does is cool, cool, cool!

17 posted on 06/17/2012 6:59:13 AM PDT by BlatherNaut
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To: SeekAndFind

This policy also puts many employers between a rock and a hard place. SCOTUS recently approved Arizona’s policy of enforcing immigration laws through business licensing. The policy essentially says that a business can have all of is licenses revoked if it knowingly hires “unauthorized workers.” An “unauthorized worker” is anybody not legally authorized to seek employment in the U.S.and includes many aliens, like tourists, who are legally here but who cannot legally seek employment.

Getting back to the main point, what if AZ and other states choose to ignore the Illegal’s dictate and continue to enforce the law as written against employers? That means an employer faces the Hobson’s choice of potentially losing his business license if he hires one of Obama’s boys or being sued in Federal court for national origin discrimination if he doesn’t.


18 posted on 06/17/2012 7:00:15 AM PDT by libstripper
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To: Gaffer

Unless the Govt does away with the SS# requirement, they will either need a WP or some other paperwork. If the govt tries to give them an SS card like ours, that will take time and there will be exposure.

Then IF they do manage to sneak it in and make them ‘invisible’ you’ll just see lots of real American ‘hispanics’ unable to find work because many businesses just won’t hire anyone who looks Mexican.

Unintended consequences.


19 posted on 06/17/2012 7:00:15 AM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: Norm Lenhart

It says they won’t be eligible for Medicare but
if in this economy they can’t find a job are they
eligible for unemployment comp?
99 weeks etc.

This is the straw that breaks America’s back.
It must not stand.


20 posted on 06/17/2012 7:01:37 AM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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