‘Is your job next?’ headline blared, followed by the disturbing preview of the article inside: “A new round of globalization is sending upscale jobs offshore. They include chip design engineering, basic research— even financial analysis. Can America lose these jobs and still prosper (R. Hira, 2008, p-1)?” The reaction of this news was swift and divided. Definitely large corporations that will be outsourcing will make huge profits in the long run but “what about the American citizens?”
Employers are able to make money because production is fast and cheap for them. The Pew Hispanic Center concluded in 2001 classified an estimated 5.3 million workers in the U.S. as unauthorized workers in the labor force. These jobs include 700,000 restaurant workers, 250,000 household workers, and 620,000 construction workers (Murphy). This is a whole lot of cheap labor, and without it the U.S. would suffer. If 620,000 construction workers were gone, home improvement projects across the nation would quickly be hard to find. With a large number of these immigrants also earning wages working on farms, Americans would find much of their produce rotting in fields due to the lack of workers (Murphy 2). The positive effect of these immigrants on the nation’s labor force is well supported by Americans; however, the opinion of those rejecting these workers is accepted and taken into account as well.
“Without warning, they left us broke, sealed out, and jobless” (Edwards). These are the words from Gregg Davis, a former Oshawa workman, after he received notice his job was being relocated to Nashville, Tennessee. Gregg Davis worked for IQT Solutions, a call-center company based in Oshawa, Ontario. Along with 600 other people, Gregg Davis was left jobless after his job was outsourced to Nashville, Tennessee in a desperate attempt to save the company money. Today, thousands of American workers are also waking up to the stunning situation of unemployment as the result of their jobs being outsourced to foreign countries. This outsourcing phenomenon has been fueled by the recent trends in globalization, with the hope to cut cost and
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)
These leaders misguidedly create an unfair standard that makes skilled immigrants not qualified of an American job and actually believe and stand by the idea that they are stealing American jobs away. On the contrary, for example, evidence is beginning to prove that skilled immigrants implement the bulk of Silicon Valley startups which result in the creation of numerous jobs. According to entrepreneur, Vivek Wadhwa, improper and burdensome U.S. immigration policies are creating a buildup in the granting of permanent resident visas, ensuing in the dismissal of countless highly educated entrepreneurs, which end up placing these entrepreneurs and the potential for economic improvements outside of the United States. Vivek Wadhwa’s article shows us how the U.S. continues to remain oblivious to the economic benefits it can acquire through the retaining of skilled immigrants. Wadhwas demonstrates that other countries are aware of the potential growth skilled immigrants can bring to their country and the United States needs to wake
In “The Worker Next Door” Barry R. Chiswick presents a fairly weak argument that suggest that the assertions made by many people, that the American economy is fueled by low-skilled foreign workers is irrational. He states that the “(i) ncrease in low-skilled workers has contributed to the stagnation of wages for all such workers.” Although, Chiswick has a Ph. D in economics and is specialized in the labor market, his argument is fairly weak because he doesn’t effectively consider the opposing view, he lacks effective evidence, and has an unbalanced rhetorical triangle.
A debate that always seems to raise its ugly head when the issue of "foreign labor" is discussed concerns the types of jobs that immigrants take and whether they are actually taking these jobs away from American workers. I look at it as jobs they are "left with", not ones they are taking. The debate always shows an American family that has been displaced or lost their livelihood because they can no longer compete with cheaper labor. In reality the jobs that the immigrants get are the most undesirable, strenuous and dangerous ones. The only American workers that they compete with are the unskilled ones. I intend to explore if immigrants "taking" American jobs, if they are only taking the jobs that
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
The article written by Steven Camarota “Unskilled Workers Lose Out to Immigrants” (Jan. 6, 2015) argues that there are large numbers of immigrants that are taking jobs from the unskilled worker. An
In 2011 the Migration Policy estimated around 2.6 million people were undocumented workers; the retail trade employed about 920,000, construction 910,000, agriculture 540,000, and manufacturing 520,000 (Francis Wilkinson, March 12, 2014). With these numbers that means that there is at least one undocumented worker per 6 million workers in the U.S. Most of these undocumented workers are illegal immigrants coming to the U.S to better their future and gain better opportunities, as for the companies, they like to hire illegal immigrants because they can usually get away with paying them less than they would have to with a U.S citizen because they aren’t documented. This became illegal in 1986, but employers still
Did you know that “the nation has lost more than 2.5 million manufacturing jobs and more than 850,000 professional service and information sector jobs, due to overseas shipping since 2001? (Aflcio)” It is clear to me that some big business companies don’t value the protection of employees very highly. By some big business, ill single one out and state that Goldman Sachs has shipped approximately 500,000 American jobs overseas in the past few years. That’s about half of the total net job loss during these past years (Aflcio). This shows that companies are reluctant to stay in American and scared of the current economic situation. It upsets me to see American jobs being shipped overseas at such a rough time
International migration has affected the economy in the United States in numerous ways especially through race. Min Zhou demonstrates the fact that international migrants, especially undocumented Mexicans are affecting the economy because they are taking away minimum wage jobs. Zhou significantly states, “Blue collar jobs…available for newly immigrants… are disappearing at a particular rapid rate, resulting in expanding classes of poor and rich and a shrinking middle class. This
The treatment of workers is a growing issue and it’s going to keep on growing and growing if people don’t realize what these big companies are doing and put a stop to it. For example the shoe company Nike employs many people but the thing people don’t know is that there are 12,000 young women in Indonesia making the lowest amount of money and working long tiring shifts. Every $80 sneaker Nike makes it only costs them 12 cents for the labor. This shows the unfair treatment of these workers and how the company is taking advantage of them and it is not only Nike doing this but any major company uses the same force of labor. In “Who Makes the Clothes We Wear?” it says “Government officials raided a sweatshop filled with immigrant Thai women laboring as little as 59 cents per hour.”Also not only were they being taken advantage of the discipline was enforced by threats of rape and beatings.(26) This goes to show the little care they have for these workers and the actions that are being taken against them. It also shows a dark side to these companies in which the workers are being treated worst than dogs.
The Jewish economist whose father lived through the Holocaust or the Italian who wonders at America's skill to assimilate workers from around the world, America’s ability to synthetize new parts into a dazzling new unit; this is a secret of its own power. People are already at a disadvantage by new trends as globalization, the decline of unions and the computer. The economist can only project and create a subset of important issues. The first thing they can remind us is that the legislated goal of U.S. policy is oddly detached from economics. Truly, illegal immigration is the market's sign that the actual legal limits are too low. Economy is boosted by immigrants; they are fuel for growth cities similar to Las Vegas and a balsam to older cities that have suffered desertion by natives. Borjas's research strongly suggests that “native unskilled workers pay a price: in wages, in their ability to find inviting areas to migrate to and perhaps in employment. But the price is probably a small one” (Lowenstein, R.
These immigrates do not have any problems with there wages because they made little or less in their home country. In the past decade, “American jobs screamed out of the United States at an ever-accelerating rate of speed,” says Wooldridge, “While American workers stood in unemployment lines, major corporations insourced, outsourced and offshored jobs to Third World countries. Why? They could obtain labor for $1.00 an hour and sometimes less. Capitalism knows no loyalty to man, beast or country.” One example of a corporation exercising this scheme is Bank of America. This company cut 5,000 jobs, and sent 1,250 of them to India. The company has also announced that they would cut 12,000 in the next two years or so. General Electric has also sent jobs to India. The company has sent about 12,000 jobs to India.