Reply #6: Perhaps not. "Economists say immigration, legal or illegal, doesn't hurt American workers."FactCheck

[pampango]

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/05/does-immigration-cost-jobs/

In the immigration debate, studies and research really make little difference because everyone "just knows" they are right from life lessons they have learned. (Shouts of "amnesty for illegals" or "racist/xenophobe" seem to overwhelm any use of "facts" or research - which makes it a perfect wedge issue for republicans. :) ) For the record, though, there are several recent studies that show the same result as the FactCheck one. I don't know of any that show the opposite.

By your logic, why wouldn't every legal immigrant or every college graduate mean one less job for a current worker? It isn't a zero-sum game in which every new worker means one less job for a current worker. New workers create the demand for goods and services just like current workers do.

It's why our economy functions with 140 million workers in 2000 (155 million in 2010) as it did with 62 in million 1950. The 78 million additional workers from 1950 to 2000 were not a drag on society because they created as many jobs (through their demand for goods and services) as they took. (Some industries and occupations were helped and some hurt by the new workers and growing economy between 1950 and 2000.) I don't think many of us think our country would be better off with 78 million workers today rather than 140 million, especially since the number of men in the workforce went up 72% while women increased by 257% and African Americans by 182%.

By the way of our 155 million workforce, 95% of them are legal, yet we spend our time worrying about the other 5% rather than the elite who have so damaged our society. "Us" (95%) vs "them" (5%) as the source of our problems is IMHO a distraction.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CBcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bls.gov%2Fopub%2Fmlr%2F2002%2F05%2Fart2full.pdf&ei=MT71S9eqKIK78gbO-bHiCg&usg=AFQjCNHHotnPisTuU-x3a_dfYfKQ-z2TPA&sig2=Ch7KCF1HoRfaNhvSycAloA