Immigration Watch International (2): Most Employment Growth Since Pandemic Has Gone to Immigrants

Monday, June 10, 2024

Most Employment Growth Since Pandemic Has Gone to Immigrants

President Biden claimed in April that the United States has “the best economy in the world”, with a job market that the New York Times calls “historically strong”. Unfortunately, too many U.S.-born are missing out on the supposed “job-creation boom.” It is true that the country has added millions of jobs since the height of Covid. However, most of that employment growth has gone to immigrants, both legal and illegal. The government’s household survey shows that there were only 971,000 more U.S.-born Americans employed in May 2024 compared to May 2019 prior to the pandemic, while the number of employed immigrants has increased by 3.2 million.

It is certainly true that the unemployment rate is low, but “unemployed” people include only those who have looked for a job in the past four weeks. As we have discussed in prior publications, the labor force participation rate — the share working or looking for work — has declined dramatically among U.S.-born men since the 1960s, particularly for those without a bachelor’s degree. While labor force participation among these groups has roughly returned to pre-pandemic levels, the rate in 2024 remains at or near an historical low relative to other peaks in the business cycle. This is true even for U.S.-born men who are in the “prime” 25-54 age range for working.

Advocates insist there are simply not enough workers without immigrants. This argument ignores the long-term deterioration in labor force participation among U.S.-born men. Moreover, there is a significant literature showing that being out of the labor force is associated with social pathologies such as crime, social isolation, overdose deaths, and welfare dependency. Policymakers should consider encouraging work among the millions of working-age Americans on the economic sidelines rather than ignoring the problem and continuing to allow in large numbers of legal and illegal immigrants.

https://cis.org/Camarota/Most-Employment-Growth-Pandemic-Has-Gone-Immigrants

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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Background

Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.

Why is "La Raza" the one Spanish term that is NEVER translated in the American mass media? Because translating it would make it a lot less respectable. It means "THE RACE" -- The mixed Hispanic "race" of Mexico. Racism is fine South of the Rio Grande only, apparently.

The "line" of this blog is that immigration should be SELECTIVE. That means that:

1). A national government should be in control of it. The U.S. and U.K. governments are not but the Australian government has shown that the government of a prosperous Western country can be. Up until its loss of office in 2007, the conservative Howard government had all but eliminated illegal immigration. The present Leftist government has however restarted the flow of illegals by repealing many of the Howard government regulations.

2). Selectivity should be based on "the content of a man's character, not on the color of his skin", as MLK said. To expand that a little: Immigrants should only be accepted if they as individuals seem likely to make a positive net contribution to the country. Many "refugees" would fail that test: Muslims and Africans particularly. Educational level should usually be a pretty fair proxy for the individual's likely value to the receiving country. There will, of course, be exceptions but it is nonetheless unlikely that a person who has not successfully completed High School will make a net positive contribution to a modern Western society.

3). Immigrants should be neither barred NOR ACCEPTED solely because they are of some particular ethnic origin. Blacks are vastly more likely to be criminal than are whites or Chinese, for instance, but some whites and some Chinese are criminal. It is the criminality that should matter, not the race.

4). The above ideas are not particularly blue-sky. They roughly describe the policies of the country where I live -- Australia. I am critical of Australian policy only insofar as the "refugee" category for admission is concerned. All governments have tended to admit as refugees many undesirables. It seems to me that more should be required of them before refugees are admitted -- for instance a higher level of education or a business background.

5). Perhaps the most amusing assertion in the immigration debate is that high-income countries like the USA and Britain NEED illegal immigrants to do low-paid menial work. "Who will pick our crops?" (etc.) is the cry. How odd it is then that Australians get all the normal services of a modern economy WITHOUT illegal immigrants! Yes: Before the pandemic, you usually COULD buy a lettuce in Australia for a dollar or thereabouts. And Australia IS a major exporter of primary products.

6). I am a libertarian conservative so I reject the "open door" policy favoured by many libertarians and many Leftists. Both those groups tend to have a love of simplistic generalizations that fail to deal with the complexity of the real world. It seems to me that if a person has the right to say whom he/she will have living with him/her in his/her own house, so a nation has the right to admit to living among them only those individuals whom they choose.

I can be reached on jonjayray@hotmail.com -- or leave a comment on any post. Abusive comments will be deleted.

Immigration Watch International (2)

Monday, June 10, 2024

Most Employment Growth Since Pandemic Has Gone to Immigrants

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