Immigration Angle Missing from Today's Economic News

By Jeremy Beck, Thursday, April 7, 2011, 11:35 AM EDT

"[I]mmigration reduces the wages of domestic workers who compete with immigrants. That’s just supply and demand: we’re talking about large increases in the number of low-skill workers relative to other inputs into production, so it’s inevitable that this means a fall in wages."

-Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman

According to Krugman, immigration policy reduces American employment opportunities and lowers existing workers' wages. Even the non-economists among us take supply and demand for granted. Yet, the bridge between the two is one that too few otherwise enlightened journalists have ever crossed. When was the last time you read a mainstream, objective news story about the impact our autopilot immigration policy has on the labor market?

Following the April jobs report major newspapers assured us that the economy is improving. For example, the Wall Street Journal's April 2, headline story read Hiring Shows Greater Strength. The lower unemployment rate and increased job creation, insists the Journal, are causes for celebration. The devil, however, is in the details. While the national economy may improve slightly in some sectors, the outlook for the average American worker is at best uncertain:

1. From 2000-2010, all of the net employment gains went to immigrant (legal and illegal) workers. That doesn't mean native-born citizens didn't get jobs; it means fewer native-born workers were employed in 2010 than in 2000, despite a 13.5 million increase in native-born workers during that time. This trend pre-dates the recession. In fact, the same thing was happening ten years ago, during the 00-01 recession.
2. The Bureau of Labor statistics estimates that most of the growth in jobs over the next decade will come in the form of low-paying jobs. For instance, nearly 400,000 food preparation and service jobs will be created by 2018 (average pay: $16,430), while only 11,100 financial examiner jobs (average pay: $70,930) will be created over the same period.
3. Legal and illegal immigration adds hundreds of thousands new, low-skilled workers every year to compete with today's unemployed. Seventy-four percent of working-age illegal immigrants, and 46 percent of working-age legal immigrants have no education beyond high school.
   • Eight million illegal workers hold U.S. jobs.
   • Seventy-five thousand (on average) permanent work permits are granted to legal immigrants every month.

How much does immigration policy contribute to middle class erosion? To what extent does immigration policy slow the recovery for American workers? Does immigration create a permanent underclass of foreign workers? Why are legal immigration numbers rarely discussed in Washington? These are big questions, the answers to which should generate powerful stories. So far though, the mainstream media has ignored the immigration-American worker connection.

JEREMY BECK is the Director of the Media Standards Project for NumbersUSA

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Comment:

I think we all know why the media ignores this. It's because the Judeo-Capitalists control 95% of the media. They want this to continue. Lower wages for us means higher profits for them. They couldn't give a hoot about a loss in quality of life for us. In fact, they like it. Think about it. Aside from luxury and power, being wealthy means privilege. If everyone is rich, then no one is rich. Having such privileges gives them a feeling of superiority. Let's face it, most people like feeling superior to others. Wealth gives them this and then some.

Comrades, it's up to us to put an end to this. The ANP has a plan, and dedicated people. What we still need is even more dedicated people, and the funds to carry out this plan. If you aren't already a Supporter, I urge you to send in your application and pledge today. I hate to sound like some money grubber who is only interested in cash, but the cold hard fact is we need funds to operate. Without them, we can't beat them. They are so successful because they have all the money they need to put their plans into action.

"If you don't want your children and your children's children to be condemned for all eternity as slaves of world capitalism, if you don't want to be made the protectors of stock exchange bandits and other bloodsuckers by your treacherous leaders,if you are on the contrary filled with a fanatical will for freedom, then join the ranks of the National Socialist Party." - Adolf Hitler, 1926.