preview

Economic Effects of Illegal Immigration in Los Angeles, California

Best Essays

THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Purpose of Study
Estimates state that over 1.2 million people immigrate to the United States each year, thereby thrusting the issue of illegal immigration to the forefront of today news headlines. From an economic standpoint, the effort to absorb illegal immigrants often negatively impacts cities as well as the entire country. This paper addresses the negative economic outcome of illegal immigration in the city of Los Angeles, California through the exploration of studies conducted and statistics available on the issue of illegal immigration. An effort will be made to determine whether there is negative fiscal impact on the labor market, the tax structure, …show more content…

However, in Los Angeles, the low income of the immigrants theoretically results in a lower level of consumerism. Therefore, if jobs were created via immigrant consumerism, they would likely pay sub-standard wages. From a financial point of view, this results in a net job loss for U.S. citizens and counters the claim that the immigrant consumerism increases job creation Los Angeles. (Matloff, 1995)
Advocates of immigration assert that the commercial activities of the immigrants are good for the city of Los Angeles. There are of course many immigrants in Los Angeles who run their business very successfully. But these businesses run by immigrants are not beneficial for the economy in Los Angeles as they often employ illegal immigrants, which only creates more jobs with wages that are below the state mandated minimum. Advocates of immigration also argue that the low wages from immigration are beneficial for consumers. However, as stated by Donald Huddle, an economist at Rice University, consumers are paying high prices for those goods through taxes and the increased rate of use of government services. From this evidence we can deduce that the only economic benefit from this situation is to the employers and not to the average citizen in Los Angeles.
According to the view of an ever-increasing body of research, illegal immigrants consume much more economically than they contribute in Los Angeles.

Get Access