The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has put up a website giving what it calls “10 Immigration Facts Everyone Can Agree To.” The so-called facts are both falsehoods and half-truths. As an example, here is their #1:
U.S. Chamber’s Myth: “Every job filled by an immigrant is a job that could be filled by an unemployed American.”
U.S. Chamber’s Fact: “Immigrants typically do not compete for jobs with native-born workers and immigrants create jobs as entrepreneurs, consumers, and taxpayers.”
FAIR’s Fact: There is no job in the U.S. that is done only by immigrants – legal or illegal. Therefore, there is no job being done by an illegal or legal foreign worker that could not be done by an unemployed legal U.S. worker. The legislation the U.S. Chamber is backing would concede jobs currently done by illegal workers to them as well as allow them to compete with native workers for higher-paying jobs. It would also hugely expand the number of new legal immigrant workers and guestworkers.
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I guess the Chamber of Commerce is trying to say that immigrants do not “compete” with all those out of work American construction workers? Those workers just all of a sudden decided they didn’t want to work construction? No, they decided they couldn’t work for the peanuts employers paid to illegals, sometimes for less than minimum wage under the table.
As far as the baby boomers retiring argument, the youngest of the boomers are still only 49. The boomer generation is 1946 to 1964. A substantial portion of that generation is still many years from retirement and a lot of those who are at retirement age plan to keep on working. So importing workers we may never even need, and if we do it would be years down the road, is not a smart strategy.
Great FAIR Rebuttle to the Chamber of Commerse Lies
I’d add the open border news brings out that petroleum engineers in Texas are needed, what they don’t say is 150K engineer jobs were simultaneoualy eliminated from 2006-2010 [mostly outsouced automotive and space]…I’m sure Texas is grabbing up all these outsourced American engineers.
Its not pay either; outsourcing American automotive engineering to locations like Japan and the EU means paying higher foreign salaries for domestic American engineer replacements too. Its simply illogical and “pig-headed”.