Employment Growth Since 2000 All Notched by Immigrants
Newsmax 

Immigrants both legal and illegal accounted for all of the net employment growth since the turn of the century, according to a new report.

In the first quarter of this year, there were 5.7 million more immigrants with a job than in 2000.

But among native-born Americans, there were 127,000 fewer with a job in 2014 than in 2000 — 114.7 million this year compared to about 114.8 million in 2000, the report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) discloses.

Because the native-born population grew significantly during that period while the number of those working decreased, there were 17 million more working-age natives unemployed in the first quarter of 2014 than in 2000.

"With 58 million working-age natives not working, the Schumer-Rubio bill and similar House measures that would substantially increase the number of foreign workers allowed in the country seem out of touch with the realities of the U.S. labor market," the CIS report observes.

That bill, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S.744), has already been passed by the Senate.

Currently only 66 percent of natives ages 16 to 65 are holding a job. And that figure does not take into consideration the 7.3 million people, both native and immigrant, who are forced to settle for working part time despite wanting full-time work.

Immigrants, meanwhile, have made gains in all areas of the labor market, including lower-skilled jobs such as maintenance and food service, middle-skilled jobs such as healthcare support and office support, and higher-skilled jobs including management and positions in the computer field.

The report from CIS scholars Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler also points out that 8.7 million native-born college graduates are out of work, as are 17 million natives with some college and more than 25 million with only a high school education.

The CIS cites several reasons why immigrants have fared better than natives in the job market. For one, the Summer Work Travel Program allows employers to hire temporary workers without needing to make the Social Security and Medicare payments that would be required for natives.

Also, foreign workers who enter under the H-1B visa program cannot change jobs easily, making them more captive to their employers. And immigrants may also be willing to work off the books for lower pay than natives would command.

Based on its research, the CIS offers the conclusion that the long-term decline in employment among native-born Americans indicates that there is no general labor shortage in the country.

And the decline in employment among the native-born during years of high immigration confirms other research showing that immigration does reduce employment for natives.

"If the Schumer-Rubio bill becomes law, the number of new legal immigrants allowed into the country will roughly double to 20 million over the next decade," the CIS states. "The primary argument for this dramatic increase is, as Republican Congressman Paul Ryan has argued, that without it the country faces 'labor shortages.'

"Given the abysmal employment and labor force participation rates, particularly of the native-born, it is difficult to take at face value assertions by employer groups that workers are in short supply or to justify the dramatic increase in immigration levels in the Schumer-Rubio bill."