[quote=deadzone][quote=SK in CV][quote=FlyerInHi]Of course, undocumented immigration does push down wages for legal residents. [/quote]
I know that seems to be conventional wisdom. But is it true? Any research to support the claim? I’ve seen plenty of research that indicates it’s not accurate.[/quote]
Are you serious? there is absolutely no logical argument that can be made for this not to be the case. Do your seriously need to see “research” to prove the theory of supply and demand?[/quote]
I prefer research to gut feelings. Gut feelings are always subject to bias.
[T]he impact of immigration [on a nation’s economy] remains small, for several reasons. Immigrants are not competitive in many types of jobs, and hence are not direct substitutes for natives. Local employers increase demand for low-skilled labor in areas that receive low-skilled immigrant inflows. Immigrants contribute to demand for goods and services that they consume, in turn increasing the demand for labor. And immigrants contribute to labor market efficiency and long-term economic growth.
From David Griswold, economist from Center for Trade Policy Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute:
The addition of low-skilled immigrants expands the size of the overall economy, creating higher-wage openings for managers, craftsmen, accountants, and the like. The net result is a greater financial reward and relatively more opportunities for those Americans who finish high school.
and from Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute:
In the ongoing debate on immigration, there is broad agreement among academic economists that it has a small but positive impact on the wages of native-born workers overall: although new immigrant workers add to the labor supply, they also consume goods and services, which creates more jobs .
and from the same source:
A key result from this work is that the estimated effect of immigration from 1994 to 2007 was to raise the wages of U.S.-born workers, relative to foreign-born workers, by 0.4% (or $3.68 per week), and to lower the wages of foreign-born workers, relative to U.S.-born workers, by 4.6% (or $33.11 per week).
No, I don’t need to see research on the theory of supply and demand. That wasn’t the question. The question was whether undocumented aliens push down wages. And I have seen research on that, and the conclusion is that it doesn’t. Do you have actual research on the referenced subject that says otherwise?
