Sunyaev-Zeldovich at 2024-02-14 10:33:23+00:00 ID: kqd8zxr

While you may discredit the New York Times for being a left-leaning paper, I will just have to say that nobel laureate Paul Krugman is a respected economist nevertheless.

You’re right to a degree of course on the social dumping part - it can lead to a downward pressure on wages in some cases. However, it's definitely a stretch to blame the problem of the working poor primarily on immigration. See https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/docs/IllegImmig_10-14-10_430pm.pdf for a bipartisan briefing. On page 9:

Illegal immigration to the United States in recent decades has tended to depress both wages and employment rates for low-skilled American citizens, a disproportionate number of whom are black men. Expert economic opinions concerning the negative effects range from modest to significant. Those panelists that found modest effects overall nonetheless found significant effects in industry sectors such as meatpacking and construction. [Approved (5-1): Chairman Reynolds and Commissioners Gaziano, Heriot, Kirsanow, and Taylor voted in favor; Commissioner Yaki voted against.]

1. To be sure, factors other than illegal immigration contribute to black unemployment. The problem cannot be solved without solving the problems of the high school dropout rate, high rates of family instability, and low job-retention rates. Moreover, halting illegal immigration is not a panacea even for the problem of depressed wage rates for low-skilled jobs.

Regarding immigration - also illegal - being a net positive effect from an economical point of view. From the same briefing:

Three of the panelists who were economists argued that immigration, both legal and illegal, has economically benefited the United States on a national basis in the form of lower prices to consumers and increased economic investment in the country