Business & the Workforce
House Subcommittee Tries to Propagate Myth that Immigrants Steal Jobs
Today’s House Subcommittee hearing on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, clumsily entitled “New Jobs in Recession and Recovery: Who Are Getting Them and Who Are Not,” was clearly intended to sow fear. In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Elton Gallegly (R-24th/CA) wasted no time in sounding the alarm that unemployed native-born workers are being left to twist in the wind as immigrants gobble up the few new jobs which have become available since the end of the Great Recession. Yet the preponderance of the evidence presented during the hearing failed to support that conclusion. Read More
Some States Try to Harness the Economic Power of Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Google co-founder, Sergey Brin (center), immigrated to the U.S. from Russia. Photo by gillat Despite restrictionists' repeated attempts to scapegoat immigrants for U.S. unemployment and a flailing economy, research suggests that immigrants actually create jobs through their purchasing power and entrepreneurship—that is, immigrants buy goods and services from U.S. businesses and creating their own businesses, both of which sustain U.S. jobs. According to a new study released this week by the Kauffman Foundation, “immigrants were more than twice as likely to start businesses each month than were the native-born in 2010,” which is why states like New York are sponsoring programs to help immigrant entrepreneurs reach their full economic potential. Read More
Why Cutting Immigrant Integration Programs Hurts All of Us
Among the many spending cuts recently passed by the House was funding for the Office of Citizenship’s immigrant integration programs. The importance of these programs, however, cannot be overstated. Immigrants who integrate into U.S. society go on to become innovators, entrepreneurs and future job-creators. Although a new study released today by the British Council, Migration Policy Group and Immigration Policy Center ranks the U.S. nine among 31 countries in promoting full integration of legal residents (a relatively good score), cutting these programs can only hurt us in the long run. As the Senate prepares to take up the Continuing Resolution, restoring $11 million to the budget of the Office of Citizenship should be a no brainer given that this relatively small investment in the potential of aspiring Americans can pay huge dividends for the United States. Read More
“100,000 Strong” Initiative Strengthens U.S.-China Relations, But Does It Go Far Enough?
Chinese President Hu Jintao’s State Visit put all eyes on Washington, D.C. last week. While much of the political buzz focused on human rights, trade and the economy, President Hu’s visit stood out in its effort to show mutual cross cultural respect. Part of that ongoing effort is the “100,000 Strong” initiative—a program Secretary of State Hilary Clinton officially launched in 2010 in Beijing to “increase dramatically the number and diversify the composition of American students studying in China. Also last week, First Lady Michelle Obama announced $2.25 million in private sector funding to support the initiative and urged thousands of Washington, D.C. youth to “study in China, work together and make America and the world stronger.” However, while the “100,000 Strong” initiative certainly facilitates a deeper cultural understanding, does it go far enough in providing opportunities for a deeper understanding of foreign business practices? Read More
Are States Considering SB 1070-Style Bills Putting their Head in the Lion’s Mouth?
Last week, local law enforcement, religious and business groups in South Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Florida spoke out against the introduction of Arizona-style immigration laws in their states, citing the harmful social and economic consequences of such laws. This week, another batch of state legislators in Nebraska, Indiana, Colorado and Texas dipped their toes in the enforcement-only waters, but found themselves facing an even louder chorus of opposition from their communities. Amidst budget crises and cutbacks, many local communities worry that the cost to implement and defend such laws, and the possible loss of tourism, consumer, and business dollars, is too high a price to pay. Some state lawmakers are even introducing countermeasures to Arizona-style bills, calling on local law enforcement to “focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of the federal code.” Read More
New Study Finds Low-Skilled Immigration Has Negligible Impact on Wages of Native-Born
Earlier today, Public Policy Professor at Georgetown University Harry J. Holzer presented his new report, Does Low-Skilled Immigration Hurt the US Economy? Assessing the Evidence. Contrary to the myth that “immigrants steal American jobs,” Prof. Holzer concludes that low-skilled immigration likely has little to no effect on most U.S. workers, though changes in immigration policy would obviously alter the effect. While admitting that wage depression is an issue for low-skilled native-born workers, Holzer insisted that immigration contributed very little, if at all, to this effect, and that “we’ve been scapegoating [low-skilled] immigrants for little reason.” Read More
Mayor Bloomberg: The DREAM Act Makes Dollars and Sense
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently banded together with other titans of industry—media magnate Rupert Murdoch, Goldman Sach’s Lloyd Blankfein, Kenneth Chenault of American Express—to reiterate what academics and advocates have been saying for years: immigrants are critically important in “doing the work and creating the businesses that keep our economy strong and growing.” Mayor Bloomberg is one of the founders of Partnership for a New American Economy, a growing bipartisan group of mayors and business leaders who are urging others to consider the economic benefits of immigration reform. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis (the daughter of immigrants) also recently stepped forward to highlight the benefits of DREAM and the value of keeping talented students in the U.S. Read More
New Report Estimates Economic Loss Due to Arizona Boycott
Arizona’s notorious anti-immigrant law, S.B. 1070, is proving to be a costly mistake. That is the message of a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) which estimates some of “the economic and fiscal consequences of the tourism boycott that occurred in response to the passage of S.B. 1070” in April of this year. More precisely, the report quantifies “the effects of lost tourism from meetings and conventions” that were cancelled as a result of the boycott. The report, entitled Stop the Conference, concludes that the cancellation of conventions alone “has produced or will produce hundreds of millions of dollars in lost direct spending in the state and diminished economic output. That, in turn, will lead to thousands of lost jobs and more than $100 million in lost salaries.” Read More
New Report Describes Peril Immigrant Women Face in U.S. Food Industry
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report called Injustice on our Plates: Immigrant Women in the U.S. Food Industry which looks at the conditions under which immigrant women work. It documents and personalizes the stories of women who have made the dangerous journey to the U.S. seeking a better life for themselves and their families, only to end up working long hours under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions. Read More
Work-Based Exchange Should Be Pursued as Much as Study Abroad Programs
From the food we eat to the technology we use, the United States’ ongoing interdependence on other nations is more apparent everyday. This interdependence has prompted other nations to expand citizen exchange as a way to promote cultural understanding and cross-pollination in business and industry. Also recognizing the value of exchange, the U.S. government and its institutions of higher education have heavily promoted study abroad to U.S. students and the U.S. has extended a hand to foreign nationals who want to learn from leading U.S. businesses. However, that should be a two-way street and we need to place more emphasis and provide even more opportunities for young Americans to learn from foreign business leaders through work-based exchanges abroad. Read More
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