“[A]nyone who tells you that immigration doesn’t have any negative effects doesn’t understand how it really works. When the supply of workers goes up, the price that firms have to pay to hire workers goes down. Wage trends over the past half-century suggest that a 10 percent increase in the number of workers with a particular set of skills probably lowers the wage of that group by at least 3 percent. Even after the economy has fully adjusted, those skill groups that received the most immigrants will still offer lower pay relative to those that received fewer immigrants.Both low- and high-skilled natives are affected by the influx of immigrants. But because a disproportionate percentage of immigrants have few skills, it is low-skilled American workers, including many blacks and Hispanics, who have suffered most from this wage dip. The monetary loss is sizable… We don’t need to rely on complex statistical calculations to see the harm being done to some workers. Simply look at how employers have reacted. A decade ago, Crider Inc., a chicken processing plant in Georgia, was raided by immigration agents, and 75 percent of its workforce vanished over a single weekend. Shortly after, Crider placed an ad in the local newspaper announcing job openings at higher wages.” George J. Borjas, PhD

Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University

“Yes, Immigration Hurts American Workers”

politico.com

Sep./Oct. 2016 Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University“Yes, Immigration Hurts American Workers”politico.comSep./Oct. 2016

“It might seem intuitive that when there is an increase in the supply of workers, the ones who were here already will make less money or lose their jobs. Immigrants [documented and undocumented] don’t just increase the supply of labor, though; they simultaneously increase demand for it, using the wages they earn to rent apartments, eat food, get haircuts, buy cellphones. That means there are more jobs building apartments, selling food, giving haircuts and dispatching the trucks that move those phones. Immigrants increase the size of the overall population, which means they increase the size of the economy. Logically, if immigrants were ‘stealing’ jobs, so would every young person leaving school and entering the job market; countries should become poorer as they get larger. In reality, of course, the opposite happens.” Adam Davidson

International Business and Economics Correspondent at National Public Radio (NPR)

“Debunking the Myth of the Job-Stealing Immigrant”

nytimes.com

Mar. 24, 2015 International Business and Economics Correspondent at National Public Radio (NPR)“Debunking the Myth of the Job-Stealing Immigrant”nytimes.comMar. 24, 2015