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Who's "Taking Our Jobs Away"?

One of the oft-cited arguments against allowing increased immigration is that all those immigrants will take jobs away from Americans. In the abstract, that's a somewhat misguided point. Immigration growth is very similar to having rapid population growth because of higher birthrates—both increase the number of working-age people in the United States—and we rarely hear calls for people to have fewer kids on the theory that all those youngsters will "take our jobs away." There isn't a fixed number of work in this country, and population growth means—again, in theory—more jobs for everyone.

Anyway, Mark Thoma has more on this point, and there's a good debate in his comments section (including people that don't agree that the two are exactly the same) that's very much worth reading.

Posted by Bradford Plumer on 05/18/06 at 1:12 PM | E-mail | Print



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Comments

Outsourcing jobs, illegal immigration, the bottom line here is that the Gov. is supposed to be all about protecting us, the citizens, and, obviously, when the Gov. "gives away" jobs it isn't doing its job.
So..., what's the story?
One thing is for sure, the higher the unemployment rate is, the less likely that Big Money is going to have to worry about how a worker is going to react when it comes down to "my way or the highway."

Posted by: Michael L. Wagner on 05/19/06 at 12:35 PM

Moved from East Coast to West Coast, plan to work for same Temp Agency, that kept me working 52 weeks a year. Priced out of market, same jobs, paid minimum wage. Why? The immigrants in that area worked for substandard wages. Homeless citizens can not get construction jobs, because they are being done by (illegal, non-taxpaying?)Mexican immigrants. Have been denied jobs in Offices, Food Service, Motels, McDonalds, 7/11 because I do not speak Spainish. They not only took my job away, but the jobs of hundreds of others, that were born here, paid taxes here, immigrated legally.

Posted by: mary on 05/19/06 at 6:45 PM

It is not the immigrant community who is responsible for the employment dynamics they face.
The emboldening of oligarchgic, plutocratic, corporatism is the problem.
Blaming those looking for work, for the exploitation they face at the hands of overpaid, overindulged, overpriveledged, executives; is equivalent to blaming the child for growing up in an abusive family.
Foisting the failures of plutocracy, onto those who do the work, is typical of the new leadership of this nation.
Only those who didn't earn their wealth are entitled to it and everybody else should bend to the corporate will so they can keep their jobs. If the monied elite do not share the wealth then underemployment and poverty will be the consequence of their economic largesse. While the jobs may not evaporate, the quality of the employment does.
Workers are expendable chattle, in the corporate machine. They are as ignored, as they are "interchangable," with no intrinsic value.
The capitalist's dream: nameless, faceless, cowed workforce with no recourse for self-defense. Destruction of unions, retirement, employee protections, etc. all examples of the company disregard for the larger world.
Ah, the Republican dream of ownership and responsibility: all economic difficulty is the fault of those with the least (a.k.a., not republicans) let them pay for it.

Posted by: LT on 05/20/06 at 9:13 AM

Corporations are like sharks, they kill and feed. I wish I had said that, don't remember who did.

Posted by: Bob DAmico on 05/20/06 at 11:38 AM

There are so many sides to the immigration issue, yet you rarely, if ever, hear the experts talk about depressed wages at the hands of Mexican nationals. Instead of the mantra being "Mexicans are doing jobs Americans don't want to do", it should be "Mexicans are doing jobs for wages Americans shouldn't get out of bed for". I became a carpenter as a CAREER PATH 25 years ago and journeyman carpenters were making $15-$20 per hour and could easily afford a home and support a family. In the same region of the country I find it increasingly difficult to find $15 per hour. My "career path" has become "low skill work", worthy of low wages. The Mexican nationals working here over the last 20 years have managed to undo 80 years of progress made by the American labor movement. Deport all workers here illegally and get Americans off drugs, off assistance programs and into quality jobs with living wages.

Posted by: Steve on 05/20/06 at 4:12 PM

The scabs have taken almost all the working man's jobs away in my area as well. I can Barely find a construction job with wages as good as they were a few years ago.

Posted by: Joby on 05/20/06 at 11:29 PM

One asks how does it benefit society if the gov. allows aliens to mule dope to their new life in the USA. ...And, so maybe Bush made another (?) behind the scenes deal with Chinese shipping agents...
It seems to me that until the gov. punishes employers for hiring illegals we're to be accorded to the norm... Which translates into "police agents..."
In a way it's funny how so much money is wasted with cop overtime... Just consider the billion dollar deal that Governor Davis made with the CA prison guards.
One guard actually made more than the warden...
Why dosen't the prison system utilize a substitute system for when guards call in ill, instead of always paying expensive overtime...?
It makes sense to pay for sick time, but everyone knows that paticular system is always going to be abused... Let's see state employees calling in sick to a state doctor, who makes house calls..., instead of calling in to report to their buddy, the sympathetic immediate supervisor...

Posted by: Michael L. Wagner on 05/21/06 at 5:53 PM

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