Immigration and Unemployment: A Resource Page

While Congress prepares to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform, restrictionist groups are doing their best to perpetuate the myth that immigrants are to blame for our nation’s unemployment problem. The following Immigration Policy Center (IPC) resources dispel this myth with facts and research.

Letter to the Editor: Immigration and Employment [1]

In his Dec. 3 Ideas piece, “Recovering Stolen Jobs Key to Recovery,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) misconstrues the relationship between unauthorized immigration and unemployment among native-born workers. Smith seems to think that deporting the 8 million unauthorized-immigrant workers now in the United States would magically create 8 million job openings for unemployed, native-born Americans. In the real world, however, it’s not that simple. Immigrant and native-born workers cannot simply be exchanged for one another like batteries.
(Politico, December 7, 2009)

The Economic Blame Game: U.S. Unemployment is Not Caused by Immigration [2]

Congressmen Steve King and Lamar Smith hosted a forum on the impact of “illegal immigration on American jobs.” Panelists attempted to draw a direct correlation between U.S. immigration policy and unemployment, just as they do with all other domestic issues including the environment, security and health care. As in the past, their solution is deportation, their tactic is division, their position is the status quo, and their plans neither help American workers or solve our immigration crisis. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has developed the following fact check to further debunk claims that U.S. unemployment is caused by immigration.
(IPC Fact Check, November 19, 2009)

Would Mass Deportation Mean More Jobs for U.S. Workers? [3]

As the U.S. experiences its highest unemployment levels in a generation and news reports document the desperation of some native-born workers who are unable to find steady work, we must ask the question whether now is really the best time to implement a legalization program. Basic math would suggest that 16 million unemployed American workers would benefit from subtracting 12 million undocumented workers from the labor force. However, it isn't that easy. Mass deportation is no silver bullet for solving our unemployment problem.(IPC Blog, November 6, 2009)

Untying the Knot Series: Unemployment and Immigration [4]

IPC’s Untying the Knot series debunks the frequently misrepresented relationship between immigration and unemployment. The reports, prepared by Rob Paral and Associates, examined data from the Census Bureau and found that there is no apparent relationship between the number of recent immigrants in a particular locale and the unemployment rate among native-born whites, blacks, Latinos, or Asians. Even now, at a time of economic recession and high unemployment, there is no correlation between the number of recent immigrant workers in a given state, county, or city and the unemployment rate among native-born workers.(IPC Special Report, May 19, 2009)

A Conversation about the Economic Effects of Immigration on African Americans [5]

Anti-immigrant groups have repeatedly tried to drive a wedge between African Americans and immigrants by capitalizing on the myth that immigrants take American jobs. In a new Perspectives piece for the Immigration Policy Center, Yale Professor Gerald Jaynes dispels the myth that immigrants take “black jobs” and instead suggests we find solutions on how to lift up all low-wage American workers.
(IPC Perspectives, July 14, 2009)

Published On: Tue, Dec 15, 2009 | Download File [6]