Fluent Essays

Please answer the following questions in essay form. Be as direct and as succinct as possible.1. About 11 million unauthorized immigrants live and work in the United States today. Some say they should be deported, while others support a path to legal residency. What would deportation of 11 million people involve? What would be required to receive amnesty?2. The current system’s quotas and preferences mean there is no way some people can ever enter the country. Guest-worker visas mean some will labor here with no representation, few legal protections and no chance to earn citizenship. How do we make rules that are fair, generous and in keeping with our values? 3. From border security to deportation and fines, we must decide how to enforce the law with employers and employees who are undocumented. What’s realistic, and what reflects our goals and values?4. Take one of the myths about immigration from the reading on Immigration myths and either agree or disagree with it.5. The US Chamber of Commerce published the Article on Immigration Myths and Facts. What do you believe motivated them to publish this? Why have they taken this position? Has the US Chamber of Commerce traditionally been supportive of immigrant and guest workers rights? Can you cite examples from the recent past? immigration_mythsfacts.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview N O I T A R G I M IM S H T Y M AND S T C FA IMMIGRATION AND MYTHS FACTS October 24, 2013 Dear Reader, Despite the numerous studies and carefully detailed economic reports outlining the positive effects of immigration, there is a great deal of misinformation about the impact of immigration. It is critical that policymakers and the public are educated about the facts behind these fallacies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Labor, Immigration & Employee Benefits Division last prepared this pamphlet in May 2011 to refute many of the most common myths about immigrants coming to our country. This report updates our 2011 pamphlet and examines new myths and facts that have emerged during the current immigration reform debate. We summarize the facts on the relationship of immigrants to Jobs, Wages, Taxes, Entrepreneurship, Population, Crime, Integration, Welfare, and Border Security. Our compilation shows that immigrants significantly benefit the U.S. economy by creating new jobs, and complementing the skills of the U.S. native workforce, with a net positive impact on wage rates overall. Recognizing that legislative solutions are difficult, the U.S. Chamber is also working to promote regulatory and policy reforms at the relevant federal executive agencies. We hope that these administrative reforms along with much needed legislation that overhauls our broken immigration system, will lead to concrete improvements so that our country can reap the full benefits of immigration. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will continue to champion common-sense immigration reforms, and we urge you to join us in our efforts. Randel K. Johnson Senior Vice President Labor, Immigration & Employee Benefits 2 JOBS MYTH: Every job filled by an immigrant is a job that could be filled by an unemployed American. FACT: Immigrants typically do not compete for jobs with nativeborn workers and immigrants create jobs as entrepreneurs, consumers, and taxpayers. Employment is not a “zero-sum” game.1 The U.S. economy does not contain a fixed number of jobs for which immigrants and native-born workers compete. For instance, if the eight million undocumented immigrant workers now in the United States2 were removed from the country, there would not be eight million job openings for unemployed Americans.3 The reason for this is two-fold. First, removing eight million undocumented workers from the economy would also remove eight million entrepreneurs, consumers, and taxpayers. This would cause the U.S. economy to lose jobs. Secondly, native-born workers and immigrant workers tend to possess different skills that often complement one another, and are therefore not interchangeable.4 One of the principal ways in which immigrants create jobs is through the businesses they establish. Immigrants to our country join native-born Americans in being risk takers. According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, “immigrants were more than twice as likely to start businesses each month in 2010 than were the native-born.” This reflects an upward trend in immigrant entrepreneurship since 2006.5 Using census data, the Partnership for a New American Economy estimates that immigrant-owned businesses “generate more than $775 billion in revenue, $125 billion in payroll, and $100 billion in income, employing one out of every 10 workers along the way.” Moreover, “immigrants started 28 percent of all new U.S. businesses in 2011.”6 Immigrants play an important role in job creation in both small and large businesses. A report from the Fiscal Policy Institute found that immigrantowned small businesses employed 4.7 million people and had $776 billion in receipts in 2007, the last year for which data are available. In addition, 18 percent of all small business owners in the United States are immigrants, higher than the immigrant share of the population (13 percent) or labor force (16 percent).7 With respect to large businesses, a report from the Partnership for a New American Economy estimated that Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants account for 18 percent (or 90) of all Fortune 500 companies, generate $1.7 trillion in annual revenue, and employ 3.7 million workers worldwide. These companies include AT&T, Verizon, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, Kraft, Comcast, Intel, Merck, DuPont, Google, Cigna, Kohl’s, Colgate-Palmolive, PG&E, Sara Lee, Sun Microsystems, United States Steel, Qualcomm, eBay, Nordstrom, and Yahoo!8 Similarly, a 2008 study found that one-quarter of all engineering and technology-related companies established in the United States between 1995 and 2005 had an immigrant founder or co-founder, and that these companies had $52 billion in sales and 450,000 employees as of 2005.9 Immigrants also create jobs as consumers. Immigrant workers spend their wages buying food, 3 IMMIGRATION AND MYTHS FACTS clothes, appliances, cars, and other products and services from U.S. businesses.10 Further, businesses respond to the presence of new immigrant workers by investing in new restaurants, stores, and production facilities.11 The end result is more jobs for more workers. For instance, a study by the University of Nebraska, Omaha, estimated that spending by immigrants generated roughly 12,000 jobs for the state of Nebraska in 2006—including more than 8,000 jobs in the Omaha and Lincoln metropolitan areas.12 Leaving aside the role that immigrants play in job creation, the fact remains that most immigrant and native-born workers are not competing with each other, even in times of high unemployment.13 Most foreign-born workers differ from most native-born workers in terms of what occupations they work in, where in the country they live, and how much education they have. Even among less-educated workers, immigrants and native-born workers tend to work in different occupations and industries. If they do work in the same occupation or industry—or even the same business—they usually specialize in different tasks, with native-born workers taking higher-paid jobs that require better English-language skills than many immigrant workers possess. In other words, immigrants and native-born workers usually complement each other rather than compete.14 This dynamic is illustrated by the fact that cities experiencing high levels of immigration tend to have relatively low or average unemployment rates for African Americans. A 2012 analysis of census data by Saint Louis University economist Jack Strauss found that cities with greater immigration from Latin America experience lower unemployment rates, lower poverty rates, and higher wages among 4 African Americans. Latino immigrants and African Americans fill complementary roles in the labor market—they are not simply substitutes for one another. In addition, cities that have suffered the effects of declining population are rejuvenated by an inflow of Latino immigrants.15 Immigrants do not “steal” jobs from American workers. Immigrants come to the United States to fill jobs that are available, or to establish their own businesses. Research has found that there is no correlation between immigration and high unemployment at the regional, state, or county level.16 Nor is there any correlation between immigration and high unemployment among minorities.17 Immigrants go where the jobs are, or they create jobs on their own. WAGES MYTH: Immigrants drive down the wages of American workers. FACT: Immigrants give a slight boost to the average wages of Americans by increasing their productivity and stimulating investment. Immigrant workers increase the wages of nativeborn workers in two ways. First, immigrants and natives tend to differ in the amount of education they have, the occupations in which they work, and the skill sets they possess. The jobs which immigrants and natives perform are often interdependent. This increases the productivity of natives, which increases their wages. Second, the addition of immigrant workers to the labor force stimulates new investment in the economy, which in turn increases the demand for labor, exerting upward pressure on wages.18 The average wage increase that native-born workers experience as a result of immigration is measurable. A 2010 report from the Economic Policy Institute estimated that, from 1994 to 2007, immigration increased the wages of native-born workers by 0.4 percent. The amount of the wage gain varied slightly by the education level of the worker. College graduates received a boost of 0.4 percent; workers with some college 0.7 percent; high school graduates 0.3 percent; and workers without a high school diploma 0.3 percent.19 Similarly, economist Giovanni Peri has estimated that, from 1990 to 2006, immigration increased the wages of native-born workers by 0.6 percent. College graduates experienced an increase of 0.5 percent, workers with some college 0.9 percent, high school graduates 0.4 percent, and workers without a high school diploma 0.3 percent.20 Local-level studies have reached similar conclusions about the positive impact of immigration on wages. Studies of two communities that experienced a large influx of immigrants over a short time period (Dawson County, Nebraska,21 and Miami, Florida22) found that wages increased—even for lesser-skilled workers who were most likely to be in competition for jobs with new immigrants. Likewise, a study of more than 100 cities by economist David Card found that the wages of natives tend to be higher in cities with large immigrant populations.23 ECONOMY MYTH: The sluggish U.S. economy doesn’t need more immigrant workers. FACT: Immigrants will replenish the U.S. labor force as millions of Baby Boomers retire. The U.S. economy is facing a demographic crisis. Roughly 77 million Baby Boomers (one-quarter of the U.S. population) are now starting to reach retirement age.24 This wave of aging over the next two decades will have a profound economic impact. Our Social Security and Medicare systems will be stretched to the breaking point. Labor-force growth will fall. And a smaller number of workers and taxpayers will support a growing number of retirees. Under these circumstances, immigrants will play a critical role in replenishing the labor force and, therefore, the tax base.25 As the native-born population grows older and the Baby Boomers retire, immigration will prove invaluable in sustaining the U.S. labor force. Projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate that, between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. population age 55 and older will increase by 21.7 million—reaching 96.3 million, or 36.6 percent of all people in the country.26 As a result, “replacement needs”—primarily retirements—will generate 33.7 million job openings between 2010 and 2020. On top of that, economic growth is expected to create 21.1 million additional job openings.27 In other words, demand for workers will increase. Yet as more and more older Americans retire, laborforce growth will actually slow, averaging only 0.7 percent between 2010 and 2020 (even with calculating current rates of immigration).28 The 5 IMMIGRATION AND MYTHS FACTS rate of labor-force growth would be even lower over the coming decade if not for the influx of new immigrants into the labor market.29 Immigrant workers will do more than replace retiring native-born workers in the labor force. They will also look after the retirees themselves. BLS expects that the aging of the U.S. population will generate a high demand for healthcare workers of all kinds, both high-skilled and lesser-skilled.30 Between 2010 and 2020, employment is projected to increase by 34.5 percent in healthcare support occupations, 25.9 percent in healthcare practitioner and technical occupations, and 26.8 percent in personal care and service occupations.31 Many of these healthcare workers will, of necessity, be immigrants. UNEMPLOYMENT MYTH: At a time of high unemployment, the U.S. economy does not need temporary foreign workers. FACT: Temporary workers from abroad fill specialized needs in specific sectors of the U.S. economy. Although the unemployment rate for the United States as a whole remains relatively high, the demand for specific kinds of workers in particular sectors of the economy remains high as well. For instance, farm workers, nurses, highskilled manufacturing workers, and high-skilled technology workers continue to be in short supply.32 Unemployment for Americans in some of these areas remains remarkably low. For 6 example, unemployment for the native-born is particularly low in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations, such as petroleum engineers (0.1 percent), computer network architects (0.4 percent), nuclear engineers (0.5 percent), environmental scientists and geoscientists (1.2 percent), database administrators (1.3 percent), statisticians (1.6 percent), engineering managers (1.6 percent), and aerospace engineers (1.9 percent).33 Under these circumstances, the U.S. economy would benefit from channels of legal immigration that are flexible enough to respond to labor shortages in particular occupations at a particular time and place. Temporary worker programs provide just the sort of flexibility that is required in many industries.34 Moreover, evidence indicates that expanding the supply of temporary workers from abroad would not undermine wages or job prospects of native-born workers. This is true at both the high-skilled and lesser-skilled ends of the occupational spectrum. Among the many types of temporary worker visas, the largest category is the “H,” which includes one subcategory for highly skilled workers and two for lesser-skilled workers. The H-1B is for highly educated and skilled professionals and is capped by Congress at 65,000 per year with an additional 20,000 visas available for immigrants with graduate degrees from U.S. universities. The H-2B program is intended for nonagricultural seasonal, peak load, or intermittent workers (landscaping, forestry, amusement parks, etc.) and is capped at a maximum of 66,000 per year. And the H-2A program is designed for seasonal farm workers. While this last program is not subject to any numerical cap, it is too cumbersome to respond to the often rapid fluctuations in agricultural labor demand and is little used. Given that the kinds of work covered by the H-2A and H-2B programs require jobs that are seasonal or temporary in nature, they most clearly demand a temporary work force. However, in the case of all three programs, demand fluctuates with the condition of the U.S. economy—rising when times are good and falling when they are bad. The caps placed on the H-1B and H-2B programs have proven to be grossly inadequate when economic conditions are favorable.35 For example, this year the H-1B cap was met within the first few days of the filing period preceding the fiscal year, and for several years the H-1B cap has been met before, or early in, the fiscal year.36 offices or administrative support jobs. They’re also twice as likely as immigrants to work in sales. In contrast, low-skilled immigrants are three times more likely than low-skilled Americans to fill farming, fishing and forestry jobs.”37 Regardless of skill level, where U.S. employers first test the labor market to locate qualified and available workers already here, temporary workers from abroad fill gaps in the U.S. labor force and do not harm the employment prospects of native-born workers. In the case of the H-2A and H-2B programs, the lesser-skilled workers who obtain these visas find themselves in direct competition with few native-born Americans. A 2013 study by the American Enterprise Institute and ImmigrationWorks USA notes that the rising educational attainment of native-born workers suggests that few of them are in the market for the kinds of less-skilled seasonal jobs filled by H-2A and H-2B visa holders. According to this study, “in 1950, more than half of U.S.-born workers had not completed high school. Today the figure is less than 5 percent—compared to nearly one-quarter of immigrant workers.” In addition, less-skilled immigrant workers tend to work in different fields than less-skilled native-born workers. The study observes that “low-skilled Americans are twice as likely as low-skilled immigrants to work in At the other end of the spectrum, the high-skilled recipients of H-1B visas fill available jobs in STEM occupations without “crowding out” or reducing wages for their native-born counterparts.40 According to a 2013 report by researchers from The Brookings Institution, “evidence suggests that the H-1B program does help fill a shortage in labor supply for the occupations most frequently requested by employers. Most of these are for STEM occupations.” The report also found that for “occupations with the most H-1B requests, recent wage growth has been much higher than the national average.” On average, in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, 46 percent of job openings requiring significant STEM knowledge go unfilled for one month or longer. In San Jose, California, for example, two-thirds of job vacancies that remain unfilled after one month, despite advertising the positions, are for STEM occupations. In many other metropolitan areas, that share remains close to half.41 Significantly, the American Enterprise Institute has found that Moreover, BLS projects that 29.5 percent of job openings from 2010 to 2020 will not require a high-school diploma, while an additional 39.7 percent will require no more than a high school education.38 In other words, there will be too few less-educated native-born workers willing and able to fill all of the lesser-skilled jobs the U.S. economy creates. Lesser-skilled immigrant workers will fill this gap.39 7 IMMIGRATION AND MYTHS FACTS each approved H-1B worker is associated with an additional 1.83 jobs among native-born American workers.42 A 2013 report from Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) explores the outcomes of an expansion of high-skilled (H-1B) and lesserskilled (H-2A and H-2B) visas.43 The report finds that overall economic effects of the policy changes would be positive, increasing gross domestic product (GDP) for the entire country and gross state product (GSP) for each state, as well as increasing net new jobs across industries. Specifically, employment and GSP is estimated to increase for all states and in all years as a result of an H-1B high-skilled program expansion. Nationwide, this would amount to 1.3 million jobs and a GDP increase of more than $158 billion by 2045. An increase in H-2A agricultural visas would result in total employment increases of around 39,600 by 2045. Fully utilizing the H-2B seasonal worker visas up to the cap would increase total U.S. employment by around 24,000–25,000 over the next 30 years. The creation of a lesserskilled, nonseasonal temporary worker program would lead to a total gain of about 365,000 jobs by 2045, and a rise in GDP of $31 billion. 8 HIGH-TECH WORKERS MYTH: There is no shortfall of nativeborn Americans for open positions in the natural sciences, engineering, and computer science and thus no need for foreign-born high-tech workers. FACTS: Job openings are expanding at educational levels where demographic data show too few native-born students, so we can expect these shortfalls to persist in the future. Moreover, relative to other economic indicators, wages are increasing in STEM jobs requiring higher education. Some claim that job creation in STEM fields cannot properly be viewed as outstripping the supply of qualified Americans since higher than desirable unemployment persists for American workers in some STEM occupations, and plenty of STEM grads work in non-STEM positions. Three critical facts belie this approach. First of all, this outlook ignores the fact that over 35 percent of STEM jobs are those that require less than a Bachelor’s degree, while immigra ... Purchase answer to see full attachment