Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Charting the Economic Impact of Immigration

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by

James A. Bacon
in

I lifted this chart from an article, “The (Illegal) Immigrant Effect,” in the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank’s “Region Focus” magazine. Surveying economic studies about the econonomic impact of immigration, the article concludes: “Immigrant labor lowers wages for less-skilled native-born Americans, but it also lowers prices for consumers. The biggest economic beneficiaries of immigration are immigrants themselves.”

As an aside, it’s remarkable how Hispanic immigration seems to be transforming the demographics of North Carolina far more than downstate Virginia.

(If you have trouble reading the text in the map, click on the image to enlarge it.)

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5 responses to “Charting the Economic Impact of Immigration”

  1. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    And that is just the Hispanics.

    I wonder if the NC situation is a result of a greater number of commercial farms?

  2. Tobias Jodter Avatar
    Tobias Jodter

    Sure paints a rosy picture… for a perspective from someone not lobbying for slave labor I recommend reading:

    http://vdare.com/rubenstein/060926_nd.htm

    But thanks for the interesting read.

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    And unless you own your own business where you employ lots of unskilled labor or are wealthy enough to be able to hire a bevy of personal gardners, maids, cooks, etc, you aren’t being saved much either. I always get such a kick out of the $5 head of lettuce that will be forced on us if we crack down on illegal farm workers.

    Deena Flinchum

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews
    /2003265139_imprices19.html

  4. Toomanytaxes Avatar
    Toomanytaxes

    Straw proposal — Require guest worker status to be acquired outside the U.S. Provide the full protection granted by all labor-related laws for all certified guest workers. Make it clear that such workers can go back to their home countries and return to the U.S. Impose a payroll tax that recovers the full cost of all state and local government services (schools, health care, police, etc.) provided or incurred in connection with “illegal” immigration to be paid by employers of guest workers. Impose treble damages (i.e., three times the taxes) for failure to pay the payroll taxes. Permit citizens to sue to enforce collection of the payroll tax and permit them to recover attorneys’ fees from any employer not in full compliance. Make employment of a non-citizen, non-legal resident, non-certified guest worker (i.e., illegal aliens) a crime with a mandatory minimum sentence.

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    An excellent start, TooManyTaxes. I especially like the employers’ having to pay the true costs of these guest workers being in the US, such as education for their children, medical care, etc. I suspect that this will put “cheap labor” in its true perspective. There are a few things I’d add but I’ll confine myself to two.

    (1) Since you are speaking of “guest workers”, I assume that they will be in the US for a set period of time and then return home. How do we insure that they return home at that time and not simply overstay their visas? About 40% of the illegal population in the US is estimated to have arrived this way so this is a real concern. In addition to the $5 head of lettuce, I find it amusing that we are told that it would be “impossible” to deport the illegal immigrants now in the US but are expected to believe that we can somehow get an even larger number to return quietly and promptly sometime in the future when their guest worker gig is over.

    (2) Will any children born to these “guest workers” be considered US citizens? If yes, how will this affect our ability to send our “guests” home when their services are no longer required or their visa expires?

    Deena Flinchum

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