Legalizing Illegal Aliens Benefits American Workers

The San Diego Union Tribune contributes an objective analysis of the costs and benefits of illegal immigration. (Here.) There are costs associated with illegal immigration but there are benefits too. More importantly, legalizing illegal aliens would benefit American workers. For instance:

"History shows that wages rise after undocumented workers are legalized, as they did after the government offered amnesty to 2.7 million undocumented workers in 1986. Within five years, real wages of formerly undocumented workers rose an average of 15 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Wages for many of the jobs had been declining prior to legalization.

Wages would also rise for native-born workers or legal immigrants who work in similar jobs. A University of California Los Angeles study five years ago estimated that if undocumented workers were legalized, wages for all workers would rise by about 5 percent in agriculture, 2.75 percent in services and 2.5 percent in manufacturing.

Legal immigrants or native-born workers who lack the skills or education to qualify for less-strenuous work would be the beneficiaries, economists say."

Anti-immigration demagogues who profess to care about the American worker should take note.

-tdr

Technorati: Immigration.