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,
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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.
Illegal immigrants in the United States (US) have long been a topic of debate for policymakers and the public. The rationale about them is that they do not pay taxes; they add to the costs of taxpayers and use up funds in resources meant for assisting citizens and legal immigrants (the legal citizens). Therefore, they are perceived as a threat to the US economy. The true impacts of illegal immigrants on the US economy are discussed by debating over the economic benefits as well as economic costs of these immigrants. The negative impacts, discussed first, presented the decreases in low skilled jobs’ wage rates for legal immigrants and citizens instigated by illegal immigrants, the social services such as educations and healthcare that they
Some argue that immigrants will take our jobs after the allowance of legalization and attendance of postsecondary education. It is a true fact that those who become legal in the labor market will demand better treatment, respect, increased wages, and employee benefits. Those, who already have a degree, and clean houses for living due to their status, will apply for jobs equal to their education. Although the fact that they will take our job is true to some degree, it is a rhetoric marketed exaggerator, installed to create fear, and lead to an opposition to immigration reform. The legalization will affect most companies that benefit from a mistreatment of undocumented immigrants and will affect businesses that profit from underpaying their hired laborers, documented or undocumented. According to Aviva Chomsky, “Governments have made sure that there are people without rights to fulfill business’s need for cheap workers and high profits” (126). Businesses tend to oppose restriction on immigration today because inequality maintains a population of poor people who lack access to resources, and who may have little alternative but to accept jobs under the worst of conditions (15). “The answer to the low-wage problem is not to restrict the rights of people at the bottom even more (through deportations, criminalization, etc.) but to challenge the accord between business and government that promote the low-wage, high-profit model” (27). Immigrants have always flooded America, to work as a cheap labor, work under strenuous conditions, send remittance to their home countries, and return home. The fact that people believed immigrants come to steal the American wealth is altered by the globalization of the economy, and it hurts to have a vulnerable nation labor force to compete with other countries. According to Chomsky, “As of 2005, Social Security was receiving about $7 billion a year through false social security numbers provided by illegal immigrant workers” (38). This fact is based on a low-income/low immigrant wage. Therefore, allowing immigrants to access higher education and better-paid jobs will result in higher income taxes, higher real estate and consumer’s taxes, community involvement and volunteering. If the
Today, the United States is home to the biggest migrant population on the planet. Despite the fact that Immigrants s adapt rapider in the United States contrasted with created European countries, immigrants policy has turned into a profoundly antagonistic issue in America. While a significant part of the civil argument focuses on social issues, the Economic impacts of immigrants are clear: Economic analysis discovers little support for the view that inflows of outside work have lessened occupations or Americans ' wages. Economic theory prospects and the greater part of academic research affirms that wages are unaffected by immigrants over the long haul and that the financial impacts of immigrants are for the most part positive for natives and for the general economy. Immigrant’s s have dependably been fundamental advantages for the U.S. economy and contribute enormously to the country 's aggregate financial yield and duty income. In the last year, for instance, workers added $1.8 trillion to U.S. total GDP (Kwon, 2013). Business analysts have found that Immigrants s supplement native conceived laborers and increment the way of life for all Americans. Moreover, as buyers in neighborhood groups, Immigrants make interest for private ventures and strengthen the economy. Immigrant’s business people have additionally assumed a critical part in progressing economic development and making organizations.
Joe Messerli published an article that addressed the positive and negative effects immigrants have on the U.S. Obviously, having a larger population causes there to be greater competition to obtain work, however, the majority of the positions obtained by illegal immigrants are those that are undesired by Americans; low-skilled, low-paying, labor-intensive jobs (Messerli 2). Illegal immigrants pursue careers like dishwashers, landscapers, field workers, housekeepers, and food-processing plant workers. Very few Americans have the desire to obtain these jobs, whereas, illegal immigrants fill those positions gladly and do so at decreased wages. They also stay employed in those positions for many years, normally without the possibility of promotion. Americans however, only remain in such low-skilled, low-paying jobs for a short time, seeking to advance to higher paying positions.
Edwin notes that the failure and monetary costs of the ‘enforcement-only’ approach that the government is currently practicing. Edwin acknowledges the need for effective immigration reform; he proposes an immigration policy that rises and fall with U.S labor demand coupled with strict enforcement of wage and labor laws. Edwin also discusses the value of illegal immigrants on the American economy.
Illegal aliens are net consumers of public services and they contribute to economic growth (Immigrants’ Economic Contributions, 2009). Since 1990, immigrants have contributed to job growth in three main ways: They fill an
The first article is entitled “The Economics of U.S. Immigration Policy.” This article was written by Pia M. Orrenius, the Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and Madeline Zavodny, a professor of economics at Agnes Scott College. This article explains that the public has become concerned with the issue of immigration because of the fiscal impacts of immigrants on our labor markets. Orrenius and Zavodny relate a plethora of facts about the economics of
Illustrating how immigrants help the economy through their suffering, brings up empathy once more. The authors’ describe how they fled to a new country looking for a better life, finding unwanted jobs paying minimally, causing the consumers to positively buy products cheaply. Lakoff and Ferguson use pathos to They claim that to solve immigration, one must look at the issue broadly, realizing that the solution lies when everyone collaborates to decrease the number of people fleeing their country. Explaining the different viewpoints allows them to concede to the readers, showing how they are making their decisions based on knowledge. However, when comparing the two different views they still seem biased, using a negative tone when describing the way conservatives
The US labor force would not survive if it was not for illegal immigrants. If there were no illegal immigrants our labor force would decrease by four percent (Isidore 5). “We could not have grown as much as we did in the 1990s if we did not have immigrants… our growth would have been slower (Isidore 5).” Having illegal immigrants in our labor force increases the amount of resources we have, which increases the amount of production in the country. “Some economists discuss that not only do U.S. consumers benefit from lower prices as an outcome of the low wages most immigrants are paid, but that the convenience of lower-wage labor helps create more work for higher-skilled, higher-paid workers who are generally born in the US (Isidore 14).” Illegal immigrants are opening up higher wage jobs, because they take over the lower wage jobs. Many immigrants take jobs in the field of construction, agriculture
If the government builds a smart and effective immigration system to make these undocumented immigrants legal, they will increase the demand for local consumer goods. According to the 2010 American Community Survey, “immigrants earned a total of $1.1 trillion, and the Immigration Policy Center estimates that the purchasing power of Latinos and Asians, many of whom are immigrants, alone will reach $1.5 trillion and $775 billion, respectively, by 2015.”
Illegal immigrants help boost the United States economy by paying some taxes. Like American citizens, illegal immigrants may pay local, state, and federal taxes including sales tax that helps support government services that they may not be able to access (Ewing 9). Since more American citizens are becoming aware of the benefits of an education, openings are being created for illegal immigrants in low paying jobs (Nadadur 1037-1052). Americans, unlike illegal immigrants, have more diverse careers. Aliens are more concentrated in specific job areas, resulting in a decrease in immigrant labor cost. This helps boost the United States’ economy (Carter 777-795). Of the approximate eleven million illegal immigrants in the U.S., most work in labor intensive jobs. Careers such as construction and agriculture tend to attract illegal aliens and they account for about twenty-five percent of the work force in these areas (Ewing 9). Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve admits that illegal immigrants help improve the United States economy and does not suggest turning them away (qtd. in Quindlen 90). Anna Quindlen, in her article “Newcomers By Numbers,” agrees with Bernanke and believes that immigrants are the factor that helps keep prices low. She also adds that immigrants are not causing American citizens unemployment, but are simply taking the low wage jobs that citizens are not willing to do and even boosting the economy (90).
The most avidly debated effects of immigration involve the United States’ economy and labor force. It is estimated that there are 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States today, and their impact on the economy can be perceived as positive as well as negative. The overall effect is unclear, and this essay will present both sides of the debate.
Immigration is important for the growth of the economy because it’s a major contributions towards the economy. The United States has often been referred to as a global melting pot due to its assimilation of diverse cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities. Today, this metaphor may be an understatement. Edstam and Carlson an immigration activists reports that, without the extra work and consumption provided by immigrants, the economy of the United States would collapse. They include in the article saying that, despite the common notion that immigrants steal jobs from Americans, the 2005 Economic Report shows that The Federal Reserve in fact recently raised its benchmark interest rate because it observed a strengthening U.S. economy with reduced unemployment, rising wages and some labor shortages Immigrants continue to strengthen local economies through their higher productivity and increased consumption (Edstam and Carlson). An article by Savajlenka added, Studies show that competition with American workers among immigrants is very minimal and limited to the unskilled labor. Therefore, Savajlenka immigration analyst states that, “Numerous studies have documented that immigrants are needed to replace the large number of retiring Baby Boomers and that the future growth of the U.S. workforce will come from immigrants and their children” (Savajlenka). This is an additional like a shot in occupations that presently use several older employees, like janitorial and truck driving
The world is becoming an increasingly interconnected place and this trend is continuing. As a result, countries are facing new problems that are requiring policy changes in many highly contentious fields. Of major concern are the immigration and citizenship policies of many western nations that are receiving a majority of the immigrants. This is a highly salient issue because people are concerned about the effect immigrant populations will have on voting trends and the jobs that they could take from citizens. Rarely discussed, though of vital importance, is the immense impact that immigrants have on the economy, as they take low paying jobs that the average citizen would scoff at. If these immigrants are willing to take such low paying
Today, the United States is home to the largest immigrant population in the world. Even though immigrants assimilate faster in the United States compared to different developed nations, immigration policy has become an highly controversial topic in the Unite States, while much of the debate is around culture and religion, the effects of immigration on economy is clear. Immigration policy has become a highly pressing issue in America. While much of the debate centers on cultural issues, the economic effects of immigration are clear. Economic analysis finds little to no proof to support that influx of foreign labor have reduced jobs or American wages. Economic theoretical predictions and a bulk of academic research confirms that wages are unaffected by immigration over the long term and the economic effects immigration are mostly positive for natives and for the economy over all.