Job Growth. The finding that new immigration was higher in the 10 years prior to 2010 than in the 10 years prior to 2000 is important because the two decades were very different in terms of job growth. There were two significant recessions during the first decade of this century plus the September 11 terrorist attacks. As Figure 3 shows, during the decade there was actually a net loss of about 400,000 jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey of businesses. In contrast, the BLS reports a net increase in jobs of about 22 million between 1990 and 2000.
If we had a real shortage of workers, wages would be increasing, not decreasing. I don't care if they are welders or garbagemen. US businesses want the flow of cheap, exploitable labor to continue so they can increase profits and socialize the costs.