Study Suggests Immigrants Good for Economic Growth

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/12455

Submitted by Jesse Russell on November 29, 2009 - 5:43pm
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Lede: According to a new study on immigrant economic impact in the U.S. immigration and economic growth and production go hand-in-hand. Doug Cunningham has more on the report.

By Doug Cunningham

Funded by SEIU 32BJ and the Carnegie Foundation, the Fiscal Policy Institute report assessed immigrant economic impact in the 25 largest U.S. metro economies. It found that instead of hurting the economy, immigrants contribute to the economy in the same proportion as their numbers in the population. Hector Figeuroa is Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU 32BJ in New York City.

: “What we are finding with this study and a lot of other studies out there who look at the impact if immigrants in the economy is that immigrants are not part of the problem. They’re really part of the solution.”

The report finds that areas with the highest levels of immigration growth also have experienced among the highest economic growth. Figueroa says while employers do exploit undocumented workers to drive wages down, the answer to that is unionization and giving equal labor law protections to all immigrants.

: “What we’re saying is that the problem will never go away until we change the laws and it allows millions of people -who are contributing to our economy like this reports suggest - to be able to do that with the same rights as everybody else.”

[Flaneur]

1. Sssshhhhh! Don't they know the economy is a zero-sum game?

[Posteritatis]

2. but DER STEELIN AR JARBS! (nt)

[Go2Peace]

3. Poorly designed study

"The report finds that areas with the highest levels of immigration growth also have experienced among the highest economic growth."

It could also be that areas with high levels of economic growth attract more immigrants. This is not a well done study and really is just trying to prove a political position.

Don't get me wrong omaha steve, I agree with a lot of what you post, but illegal immigration and corporate immigration of cheap labor are not good for society. I have personally suffered because of the latter, and this downturn would be a whole lot worse for our citizens who are in construction except that immigrant competition has dropped leaving more work for them. Of course you won't see that in the news.

[notesdev]

4. Statistics 101

"Correlation does not imply causation"

The SEIU ought to be embarrassed to participate in this betrayal of the US worker. Simple supply and demand (Economics 101) can tell you that flooding the labor market is going to drive down wages and working conditions, and so it has.

How much leverage does a US worker have when the employer has the alternative of a lower-paid foreign worker who can't complain lest he be deported?

[Go2Peace]

7. That is one thing that always embarrassed me about SEIU

They have their lines crossed when it comes to illegal immigration. They do fight against outsourcing and other forms of cheap labor migration.

[Omaha Steve]

9. It is the company's that want illegals here (that hopefully will take cash)

No Social Security or Medicare costs. No unemployment problems. Hire and fire at will. Will accept less than the minimum wage (but want maximum effort). The list goes on. Go after the companies. We scream about the Southern border, but it is just what employers want. A lot of jobs would be provided for the border patrol if we are really going to get serious about stopping illegals.

It does present many unique problems that need answers.

[anonymous171]

5. Because we all know that production is only important statistic

Wages and all that socialist bullshit are unimportant.

[pampango]

6. It's good to see the positive benefits of immigration supported empirically.

Here's a link to the press release: http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/Release_ImmigrantsAndTheEconomy_25MetroAreas_20091130.pdf
and to the report itself: http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/ImmigrantsIn25MetroAreas_20091130.pdf

"The reason immigrant contribution is so robust is that immigrants are more likely to be in the working age than their U.S.-born counterparts, and immigrants work in a much wider range of jobs than is often understood. Although immigrants are more likely to be in lower-wage service or blue-collar occupations, a quarter (24 percent) of immigrants in the 25 areas work in managerial and professional occupations, and another quarter (25 percent) work in technical, sales, and administrative support. And, immigrants play an important role as entrepreneurs and business owners, accounting for 22 percent of all proprietors’ income in the 25 metro areas."

It seems that many assume that immigrants hurt the economy without citing any studies to back up that contention. It's nice to see another study that shows that immigrants are good for the economy.

New workers entering the economy - whether they are immigrants, graduates (or drop outs) from high school or college, or minorities empowered by civil rights legislation - don't automatically help or hurt the economy. It depends on how productive they are and this study shows that immigrants are, indeed, productive.

[Go2Peace]

8. The OP was around both legal and illegal immigration

I am not sure anyone would argue that immigrants as a whole are not a very productive component of the economy.

By the way, I am involved in an immigrant community, so I am not "anti-immigrant", But I also see a lot of the problems with the existing structure. For instance, most immigrants that come into the country now have no real understanding of our original "middle class" oriented society. They associate "getting rich" with "America". I have serious concerns that is part of the reason our society is changing.

With the exception of South American immigrants, immigrant communities are big targets for Republican ideology. Their newspapers and churches are heavily influenced by Republican propaganda. That is one of the growing centers and one of the reasons we are having trouble fighting the ideology. We can talk all we want about progressive values and their importance to American success, but that never reaches our immigrant communities, which hear the opposite in their churches and circles.