[3/3/17] Unemployment rates dropped during the recession in states which adopted the E-Verify program to screen illegal aliens from jobs, says a study conducted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

“Many opponents of E-Verify portray the system as a barrier to employment opportunities,” the report explains. “To the contrary, this study finds that states requiring the use of E-Verify are leading recovery efforts following the worst global recession since World War II,” said the report, which added:

Millions of American citizens would find gainful employment if they did not have to compete against unauthorized workers who undercut local wage rates. E-Verify plays a critical role in alleviating unfair competition against unauthorized workers; and states utilizing the program are experiencing positive job growth that outpaces national averages in the majority of cases.

The E-verify program is built around a website which allows employers to check the identity documents of job-seekers, so helping exclude illegal aliens. The free service is used by at least 600,000 employers, but immigration reformers say employers should be required to use the system to check all prospective employees.

According to the new study,

… this report examines the U-6 unemployment rate in states one year after instituting or expanding E-Verify requirements. The U-6 unemployment rate includes discouraged job-seekers who have stopped searching for employment and those who are working part time for purely economic reasons – as opposed to those who may be working part time by choice. Accordingly, U-6 data provides a better representation of those who are genuinely unemployed than the number that is commonly reported by the mainstream media. The most frequently reported number—the U-3 unemployment rate—only includes those who are completely out of work and still actively searching for employment… All states that enacted or expanded E-Verify after 2008, save one, saw their unemployment rates drop, even when the national rate increased. More impressively, 12 of the 15 states that passed new measures experienced a drop in unemployment larger than the national average. Furthermore, states that made E-Verify mandatory for all employers, public and private, experienced the most pronounced decrease in their unemployment rates.

Enforcing immigration law and easing pressure on American workers is highly popular with voters. A poll released on election day found 59 percent believed the first step taken towards controlling illegal immigration should be requiring all U.S. employers to verify the legal status of their employees.