Immigrants aren’t taking all the jobs


The popular right-wing grievance is that undocumented (“illegal”) immigrants are taking all the jobs. In particular, they’re stealing jobs from US citizens. What’s the evidence?

If it were true that immigrants were stealing jobs from citizens, then if you plotted labor force participation by citizens and non-citizens over time, they would have a reciprocal relationship. As non-citizen participation rose, citizen participation would fall. Over at jabberwocking,com, Kevin Drum posts the graph, and it shows that both citizen and non-citizen participation move in tandem. I don’t see any evidence for job stealing there.

One problem with the job-stealing hypothesis is that it is based on the lump-of-labor fallacy. In this model, there are only a finite number of jobs in America. But that’s not how it works. When a person works, they don't just light their paycheck on fire. They use their salary to pay for goods and services; IOW, they’re creating jobs. This is true regardless of citizenship or immigration status. 

America is stronger for immigration. There’s plenty of space in America, plenty of resources and plenty to do. If you really want to Make America Great Again, welcome immigrants!

https://jabberwocking.com/nobodys-jobs-were-taken-away-by-illegal-immigrants/

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