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Immigration and Unemployment

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

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)Read more...

Published On: Tue, Dec 15, 2009 | Download File

Immigrant Workers Contribute in Large Metropolitan Areas

The Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) recently released a report highlighting the contributions of immigrant workers in the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. FPI’s report broadens a growing understanding that immigrant workers make important economic contributions to the U.S. and to their local economies. Immigrants are likely to be of prime working age, work in occupations across the economic spectrum, and contribute robustly to economic growth in each of the 25 metropolitan areas studied and in the United States as a whole.

Published On: Tue, Dec 01, 2009 | Download File

Breaking Down the Problems: What's Wrong with Our Current Immigration System?

While some characterize our immigration crisis as solely an issue of the 11 to 12 million unauthorized immigrants living in this country, our problems extend beyond the number of undocumented people to a broader range of issues. Read more...

Published On: Wed, Oct 21, 2009 | Download File

Untying the Knot Series: Unemployment and Immigration

Untying the Knot (Part I of III): The Unemployment and Immigration Disconnect

With Congress once again poised to consider comprehensive immigration reform, a key question confronting lawmakers is to what extent immigration and unemployment are related. Opponents of immigration reform frequently argue that immigrants “take” jobs away from many native-born workers, especially during economic hard times. Yet an analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau clearly reveals that this is not the case. In fact, there is little apparent relationship between recent immigration and unemployment rates at the regional, state, or county level.

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Untying the Knot (Part II of III): Immigration and Native-Born Unemployment Across Racial/Ethnic GroupsRead more...

Published On: Tue, May 19, 2009 | Download File

Facts about Farmworkers

AgJOBS is a bipartisan, compromise bill that is the result of years of negotiations among farmworkers, growers, and Members of Congress. The Immigration Policy Center has produced a Fact Check on Farmworkers.

Published On: Wed, May 13, 2009 | Download File

The U.S. Economy Still Needs Highly Skilled Foreign Workers

It might seem that the recent souring of the U.S. economy and rise in unemployment has rendered moot the debate over whether or not the United States really "needs" the highly skilled foreign workers who come here on H-1B temporary visas. But the demand for H-1B workers still far outstrips the current cap of only 65,000 new H-1B visas that can be issued each year. In fact, this quota has been filled within one day in each of the last five fiscal years.

Published On: Fri, Feb 13, 2009 | Download File

How Expanding E-Verify in the Stimulus Bill Would Hurt American Workers and Business

Expanding mandatory E-Verify as part of the stimulus package would threaten the jobs of thousands of U.S. citizens, decrease productivity, saddle U.S. businesses with additional costs, and hinder the Social Security Administration's (SSA) ability to provide benefits to needy and deserving Americans

Published On: Thu, Feb 05, 2009 | Download File

Recapture of Unused Immigrant Visas: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Critics of H.R. 5882, a bill that would would allow visas that have gone unused due to bureaucratic delays to be "recaptured" and issued to family- or employment-based legal immigrants, claim it will needlesly create new visas. The fact is that "recapturing" lost visas would not authorize any new green cards; it would allow the government to issue green cards that Congress has already authorized.

Published On: Tue, Sep 09, 2008 | Download File

Dangerous Business: Implications of an EEVS for Latinos and the U.S. Workforce

Covers the effects of a national employment eligibility verification system on Latinos and the U.S. workforce more generally.

Published On: Sun, Aug 31, 2008 | Download File

The U.S. Economy Still Needs Highly Skilled Foreign Workers: And Arbitrary Caps on H-1B Visas Still Don't Meet That Need

It might seem that the recent souring of the U.S. economy and rise in unemployment has rendered moot the debate over whether or not the United States really "needs" the highly skilled foreign workers who come here on H-1B temporary visas. But the demand for H-1B workers still far outstrips the current cap of only 65,000 new H-1B visas that can be issued each year.

Published On: Sun, Jun 01, 2008 | Download File