The Shifting Immigration Landscape: Implications for the Labor Market
A surge in immigration went a long way toward alleviating the historic labor shortfalls that emerged in the wake of the pandemic. Yet persons entering the U.S. either illegally or under parole represented the lion’s share of the recent growth in the foreign-born population…
Foreign Workers in the U.S. Labor Market: Foreign-born workers, irrespective of legal status, comprise 19% of the labor force, up from an 11% share in the late 1990s.
The group has accounted for about 3/4 of total labor force growth since February 2020, reflecting not only the jump in immigration but also a higher participation rate.
Estimates place the unauthorized immigrant population at around 11-12 million and **about 4.0%-5.5% of the U.S. labor force.**
Foreign-born workers have out-sized representation in agriculture, construction and various service occupations. ... [end quote]
This article has many useful charts and emphasizes the need for immigrants to provide labor as the U.S. native-born working population falls.
Deporting immigrants and frightening potential immigrants into staying away will damage the U.S. economy, especially in sectors that native-born workers are reluctant to perform.
Wendy
But, as TIG whined, during the last go-around, the vast majority are not white. That is a problem to his base. He just put an underline on that metric, by welcoming white South Africans as 'victims of genocide".
Economies like cheap labor that goes by different names, immigrants, Gastarbeiter (guest workers), prisoners, slaves, coolies… By dehumanizing they become palatable.
The good news for the economies, humanoid robots will take over these jobs.
That will take a long time, if ever. We need workers now.
Humanoid robots will not be ready to take care of elderly/ sick patients, make hotel beds, frame houses or butcher cattle for many, many years to come.
There are open border types who don’t mind illegal immigration, but assuming that doing this legally is better (rule of law, control of borders, etc.) what is the best way to approach this?
#43 proposed a guest worker program that would admit 500,000 per year. It was the next thing to indentured servitude. Participants would only be allowed in if they already had a job in hand. And, if they quit that job, they would be immediately deported. The plan quickly died. No doubt, because the participants would still not be white.
I believe in the rule of law and do not like illegal immigration. While this gets into the political realm, my opinion is:
All “Dreamers” should be put on a fast track to citizenship. They were brought to the U.S. as children and we have already paid for their education and health care. They are an investment in human resources. I see this as a no-brainer and can’t understand why some people object.
All immigrants should be allowed – no, encouraged – to work. If they are here, they should all be given the equivalent of a green card without respect to legality. They are eager to succeed and willing to work toward success. I don’t see the point in threatening workers.
The path to two-way immigration should be made easier for working-age people. I’m sure that many people would like to work seasonally in the U.S. then go home for part of the year. That would be a great benefit to the agricultural industry. President George W. Bush suggested this good idea but Congress rejected it. When I was in the hospital I met many African orderlies who don’t especially like American culture and would be happy to go back and forth.
Anyone who helped the U.S. in our boneheaded imperialistic wars at the risk of their lives should be welcome. (e.g. Afghans).
Anyone who comes to the U.S. for an education should be offered a green card and path to citizenship. Same for anyone who serves in the U.S. military. These are the best of their respective nations.
This is only a start – the low-hanging fruit.
Wendy
The base wants mass deportations while the economy and important donors need immigration- a bit of a dilemma.
In Wiki on ‚Operation Wetback‘ applauded by TIG we find -
During the entirety of the Operation, border recruitment of illegal workers by American growers continued, due largely to the low cost of illegal labor, and the desire of growers to avoid the bureaucratic obstacles of the Bracero program. The continuation of illegal immigration, despite the efforts of Operation Wet back, along with public outcry over many US citizens removed, was largely responsible for the failure of the program.
So it must be tempting from TPTB‘s perspective to deliver convincing TV pictures of deportations to the masses while not standing too much in the way of deserving JCs importing cheap labor behind the curtains.
Who hired all of these illegals ??
Do they bear ANY responsibility for hiring illegals??
I can see a couple slipping by, but ALL of them slipping by and getting hired with no problem ??
Be a lot cheaper solution to prosecute, and hard, the employers hiring the illegals.
What are the odds of that happening ??
Wild guess, 0.000000000000000000000000000001%
( in case anybody thinks that’s overly optimistic, it is a percentage, gotta move the decimal over 2 places, and add a couple of zeros. just wanna make sure nobody thinks I’m going soft on crime )
How Twentieth Century. “JCs” aren’t held accountable for anything anymore. It’s always a “rogue underling”. “JCs” are, always clueless about what goes on during their watch.
Looks like JCs’ needs may continue trumping the immigration agenda:
WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he would issue an order soon to address the effects of his immigration crackdown on the country’s farm and hotel industries, which rely heavily on migrant labor.
“Our farmers are being hurt badly and we’re going to have to do something about that… We’re going to have an order on that pretty soon, I think,” Trump said at a White House event, adding that the order would address the hotels sector, too. …
Both parties approach immigration wrongly. A simple guest worker program for non-skilled labor with no path to very limited pathway to citizenship would have met the needs of workforce and removed the illegality and allowed legal movement of labor.
It is a simple common sense approach that provides legal guardrails and easy to implement. yet both parties are choosing extreme positions. Sad.
Back around the Reagan era an elected congressperson (if memory serves) was prosecuted for hiring illegal immigrants. It was a rare case and most probably just political warfare. One of my LA cousins hired a Guatemalan woman who became nationalized by the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. I used to chat with her in Spanish.
¿Who does not like free or cheap money?
¡Temptation is the only thing I cannot resist!
Do you think that someone who snuck across the border, or entered on a visa and remained after it expired, should have immigration priority over someone who is still outside the country and has a formal application pending for some time?
