Are rural Americans' calls for stricter border security warranted? Are their jobs actually in danger? Are immigrants an economic burden to the United States?
A review of the literature on illegal immigration paints a pretty clear picture: immigration (both legal and illegal) likely is a net-positive for the American economy, but a net-negative for low-skilled American workers.
George Borjas, an economics professor at Harvard who has studied immigration for 30 years, claims that liberals and conservatives don't tell the full story about the effects of immigration. Mr. Borjas claims that President Trump overlooks findings that suggest "immigrants can potentially be a net good for the nation, increasing the total wealth of the population." However, Mr. Borjas notes that liberals ignore that certain groups bear the brunt of the negative effects of immigration:
[A]nyone who tells you that immigration doesn’t have any negative effects doesn’t understand how it really works. Because a disproportionate percentage of immigrants have few skills, it is low-skilled American workers, including many blacks and Hispanics, who have suffered most from this wage dip. The monetary loss is sizable. When the supply of workers goes up, the price that firms have to pay to hire workers goes down. Wage trends over the past half-century suggest that a 10 percent increase in the number of workers with a particular set of skills probably lowers the wage of that group by at least 3 percent.
Immigration redistributes wealth from those who compete with immigrants to those who use immigrants—from the employee to the employer. And the additional profits are so large that the economic pie accruing to all [Americans] actually grows.
In sum: immigration financially hurts low-skilled Americans (those with a high-school degree or less), but that economic loss is outweighed by the financial benefits to employers (from having cheaper labor sources) and the immigrants themselves (who now have a job).
The United States incorporates the idea that increasing the number of people in a particular "skill class" (i.e. low-skilled workers) will lower the wages for that skill class, into their immigration policies. The United States purposefully factors in an applying migrant's level of skill when deciding whether to grant a visa. The United States is more likely to approve a visa for a high-skilled immigrant than a low-skilled immigrant because there are many more low-skilled applicants than high-skilled ones. They wouldn't want the few negative economic effects of immigration to disproportionately impact one skill class over another.
Obviously, when it comes to illegal immigration there is no screening process to limit certain skill classes from entering. A majority of undocumented immigrants are low-skill laborers. So low-skilled Americans are hit harder by illegal immigration than legal immigration because of the increased competition in their skill class.
The United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a report titled: "The Impact of Illegal Immigration on the wages and employment opportunities of Black workers." This report found that "[I]llegal Immigration to the United States in recent decades has tended to depress both wages and employment rates for low-skilled American citizens, a disproportionate number of whom are black men." The commission came to the same conclusion as Mr. Borjas: immigration depresses the wages of low-skilled Americans, and yet might still be a net positive for the U.S. economy as a whole due to the benefits accrued to more wealthy Americans.
Rural Americans are more likely to rely on low-skilled jobs than urban Americans. Thus rural Americans tend to suffer more economic consequences from illegal immigration than their urban counterparts. So are rural Americans correct to believe immigration is a burden on America? Not really; the data suggests that the economy is benefitted on the whole. Are rural Americans correct to believe that illegal immigration hurts their wages? The science would suggest yes, so long as you are a low-skilled American.
On August 7, 2019, ICE raided six chicken factories operating in Mississippi, arresting 680 undocumented workers. Crider Inc., a separate chicken factory, lost 75% of its 900-member workforce after an ICE raid in 2007. These aren't isolated incidents either. The liberal in me is saddened by the pain that these raids must cause for the undocumented workers caught up in them, but another part of me remembers all the times I've told conservatives that illegal immigrants don't take the jobs that Americans are willing to do. Can I really look in the face of an unemployed American living in the rust belt, or in the south, and tell them they wouldn't work a factory job when that was the last job they had before becoming permanently unemployed?
After the ICE raid on Crider Inc, the corporation immediately hired 200 locals from the rural community, most of whom were black, whilst simultaneously raising wages for those positions.
Immigration is what makes America the special country we are. No nation in the history of mankind has cultivated the racial diversity that America has currently, and I believe that's a badge of honor for this country. But it's important to note that the effects of unemployment and lower wages are painful: increased addiction rates, increased depression, increased deaths of despair, increased domestic abuse, poorer health results, and more. Rural Americans aren't necessarily xenophobic for wanting to alleviate these ailments by limiting illegal immigration as much as possible. For many struggling rural economies, no potential economic stimulus can be taken off the table.
Obviously, when it comes to illegal immigration there is no screening process to limit certain skill classes from entering. A majority of undocumented immigrants are low-skill laborers. So low-skilled Americans are hit harder by illegal immigration than legal immigration because of the increased competition in their skill class.
The United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a report titled: "The Impact of Illegal Immigration on the wages and employment opportunities of Black workers." This report found that "[I]llegal Immigration to the United States in recent decades has tended to depress both wages and employment rates for low-skilled American citizens, a disproportionate number of whom are black men." The commission came to the same conclusion as Mr. Borjas: immigration depresses the wages of low-skilled Americans, and yet might still be a net positive for the U.S. economy as a whole due to the benefits accrued to more wealthy Americans.
Rural Americans are more likely to rely on low-skilled jobs than urban Americans. Thus rural Americans tend to suffer more economic consequences from illegal immigration than their urban counterparts. So are rural Americans correct to believe immigration is a burden on America? Not really; the data suggests that the economy is benefitted on the whole. Are rural Americans correct to believe that illegal immigration hurts their wages? The science would suggest yes, so long as you are a low-skilled American.
On August 7, 2019, ICE raided six chicken factories operating in Mississippi, arresting 680 undocumented workers. Crider Inc., a separate chicken factory, lost 75% of its 900-member workforce after an ICE raid in 2007. These aren't isolated incidents either. The liberal in me is saddened by the pain that these raids must cause for the undocumented workers caught up in them, but another part of me remembers all the times I've told conservatives that illegal immigrants don't take the jobs that Americans are willing to do. Can I really look in the face of an unemployed American living in the rust belt, or in the south, and tell them they wouldn't work a factory job when that was the last job they had before becoming permanently unemployed?
After the ICE raid on Crider Inc, the corporation immediately hired 200 locals from the rural community, most of whom were black, whilst simultaneously raising wages for those positions.
Immigration is what makes America the special country we are. No nation in the history of mankind has cultivated the racial diversity that America has currently, and I believe that's a badge of honor for this country. But it's important to note that the effects of unemployment and lower wages are painful: increased addiction rates, increased depression, increased deaths of despair, increased domestic abuse, poorer health results, and more. Rural Americans aren't necessarily xenophobic for wanting to alleviate these ailments by limiting illegal immigration as much as possible. For many struggling rural economies, no potential economic stimulus can be taken off the table.
5 comments:
Hi Brandon,
This is a really interesting topic especially right now with talks of an immigration reform bill. This also had me wondering whether immigrants affect all industries equally. The reason I ask is because, like you mentioned, it’s hard to tell someone who just lost their factory job that an immigrant working in a different factory isn’t a threat to them. However, I wonder whether this also applies to the agricultural industry. In my small town, there aren’t enough people who are willing to work in the fields. The work is definitely less appealing especially when factors like the physical labor and extreme weather conditions are taken into consideration but there are always openings, at least in this area. In fact, not too long ago, crops were going bad because there just weren’t enough workers to pick them. So, I wonder whether immigrants have the same effect on all jobs or just some. Also, I think location definitely doesn’t help. The work is often located in a different town, county, or even state than the prospective workers are located.
Hello Ana,
I'd recommend looking up the economist Noah Smith. He has talked about immigration issues for several years now. I was just reading through his latest article on the topic
https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/anti-immigration-is-a-relentless
For what it's worth I grew up in an agricultural town as well and saw plenty undocumented immigrants who were the only ones willing to do those jobs
Your post distills both sides of this argument very well. I admit I have not done the research, like you. Nevertheless, my opinion in this case is still that the path to citizenship should be easier. You note that citizenship is much more attainable for highly-skilled workers and that citizens in their field do not suffer the same sort of wage suppression as low-skill workers. Executives know they are exploiting an opportunity by employing undocumented workers who do not have the same rights as citizens. I understand the frustration that many rural low-skill workers have, but it still seems misdirected. I get the sense that many still seem themselves in the shoes of the executive who would always make the decision to employ cheap labor. I am pessimistic about the chances for changing their minds because of the politics behind the issue, but I would hope that people realize undocumented workers are an issue insofar as they remain undocumented. The real issue remains in their exploitation.
In the Bertrall Ross article we recently read for the class, Ross discusses the danger of focusing on the growing inequality gap because it might obscure the problems of poverty. I find this argument compelling, and at the same time, you raise a good point that the immigration grows the pie for everyone while depositing most of it with employers, not workers, which suggests that inequality is a critical part of the problem.
So, the marginal benefit is slim depending on where you are, or negative, as you say, if you are in a rural community. Tommy & Ana also suggest some important considerations. In addition to Tommy's point about providing certain additional benefits to immigrants who becomes citizens, I would note that this would also impose financial burdens on employers which would (in theory) help the market recalibrate.
Hi Brandon! I really enjoyed this article, a lot of the research you referenced I was unfamiliar with. Specifically, I didn't know there was research showing that illegal immigration had negative impacts on Black American's wages. It complicated my views on illegal immigration, now that I understand that the benefits of these immigrants go largely to the most wealthy. My next thought, since illegal immigration likely won't stop, is - How do you think policymakers can help balance these negative impacts and protect Black Americans from wage losses?
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