Thread: Undocumented workers fill niche in U.S. economy

http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 60339/1001

Undocumented workers fill niche in U.S. economy

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times

Newly arrived Hispanic immigrants, most of whom are undocumented, took more than a third of all new jobs in the United States last year, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The study offers a rare glimpse into a growing clandestine job market.

The U.S. economy added 2.5 million new jobs last year. Nearly 1 million of these jobs went to foreign-born Hispanics who entered the United States since 2000, 70 percent of whom don't have work permits, the Pew Center estimated.

Undocumented immigrants such as Maria de la Luz Ramirez, a maid who lives in Montana Vista, say they have no problem finding work.

"Thank God there is work here. Like cleaning houses. Someone with documents is not going to want to do this, let alone an English speaker. They have already bettered themselves," she said.

Like many other undocumented workers in El Paso, Ramirez used her laser visa, the border crossing card intended for shoppers and visitors, to cross into El Paso. She said she lives in fear of being pulled over by a sheriff's deputy and found out.

Despite stricter immigration laws, undocumented immigrants have played a big part in U.S. economic development in the past decade, said Rakesh Kochhar, senior research associate at the Pew Hispanic Center and the study's author.

"There is a strong demand" for workers, he said. "The market is stronger than any law enforcement."

So far the demand for workers has accommodated the flow of immigrants, except in a few industries, such as manufacturing and maintenance services, where native-born Hispanics lost jobs to new immigrants last year.

Undocumented immigrants make up 4.3 percent of the civilian labor force, according to another Pew Hispanic Center report released this week.

Construction niche

New Hispanic immigrants have found a niche in construction jobs, where they make up almost 20 percent of the construction work force, and nearly half of the work force in some specialties like plastering and drywall installation.

Nationwide, 17 percent of Hispanic immigrants worked in construction, compared with 7.2 percent of native-born workers.

In El Paso, 4 percent of all workers are in construction, far behind the No. 1 employer -- government -- which employs 23 percent of El Pasoans. But the demand for construction workers is growing because of coming school district and military contracts.

New immigrants fit into construction jobs well because "the language barrier is not important in construction," said Jose Campos, assistant director of the 8(a) program for small government contractors at the U.S. Small Business Administration in El Paso.

Juan Lucero Jr., 26, came to work for Alpine Remodeling Inc., a small business in El Paso, last year. Lucero, who has a green card, studied industrial engineering in Juárez.

"There weren't any jobs though," he said. "My father worked in El Paso in construction, so I tried it and I liked it."

Lucero said he'll continue with construction until he finds an opportunity to work as an engineer.

Other industries that have hired immigrants include manufacturing, landscaping, food services and retailing, a sign of more widespread economic growth, the report said.

Only 3.8 percent of Hispanic immigrants worked in agriculture.

Enforcement

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in El Paso say they investigate businesses that employ undocumented immigrants on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing cases with allegations of slave labor. They did not say how many investigations they do.

Penalties vary. In March, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. agreed to pay $11 million, a record fine, for contracting undocumented immigrants to clean floors.

Immigrant advocates said immigration laws must be changed to deal with not only the flow of undocumented immigrants into the United States but also the demand from business owners.

Since 1986 it has been illegal for employers to hire workers lacking proof of proper immigration status.

And in the 1980s, the government did away with low-skilled-worker visas, except for a seasonal field- worker visa that goes to only 5,000 people each year.

"We don't want to have these kinds of jobs, but we need the workers. What's an employer to do?" said Ouisa Davis, executive director of the Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services.

Lupe Solis, owner of Alpine Remodeling Inc., said businesses that hire undocumented immigrants in El Paso are very small and not stable.

"They don't have much to lose, but we do. We have been in business 18 years," she said.

Most undocumented immigrants who cross the border in El Paso quickly leave the city and its 7.7 percent unemployment rate for cities with more vibrant job markets, officials said. Many use relatives' or friends' Social Security cards to get work.

Different paths

In some industries, Hispanic undocumented immigrants were the only group to gain jobs last year.

Manufacturing continued to shed jobs for native-born, Hispanic and non-Hispanic, alike in 2004. El Paso, for instance, saw the closure of VF Jeanswear with the loss of 1,000 jobs last year.

But Hispanic immigrants nationwide gained 101,000 jobs in durable goods manufacturing in 2004, the Pew Center found.

"In the case of manufacturing, coming out of the recession, a lot of people had been laid off and had moved to other sectors of industry. When it came time to hire again, it was not possible to rehire the workers who had been laid off. They had moved on. Immigrants stepped in," UTEP economics professor Tom Fullerton said.

Hispanic immigrants also secured jobs in other losing industries: repair and maintenance services, laundry services and private household services.

This hints at the parallel career paths taken by non-Hispanics and Hispanics.

Non-Hispanics took jobs that required at least some college education, like accountants and auditors, computer software engineers, medical scientists, lawyers and postsecondary teachers, the Pew Center reported. Hispanic workers, most of whom were recent arrivals, took jobs requiring little other than a high-school education.

Though unemployment decreased last year for undocumented immigrants, so did wages. Recent Hispanic migrants saw their wages fall by 2.6 percent in 2004, about the same as non-Hispanic recent migrants.

The average family income in 2003 for undocumented immigrants was $25,700 for migrants who came less than 10 years ago and $29,900 for those here more than 10 years. The average family income for documented immigrants was $47,800, and for the native-born, $47,700.

So far the demand for workers has accommodated the flow of immigrants, except in a few industries, such as manufacturing and maintenance services, where native-born Hispanics lost jobs to new immigrants last year.

HERE IT IS IN BLACK AND WHITE. AND THE OPEN BORDERS NITWITS SAY ILLEGALS ARE NOT REPLACING AMERICANS OR LEGAL IMMIGRANTS???

I think we all know what "new immigrant" means.

Penalties vary. In March, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. agreed to pay $11 million, a record fine, for contracting undocumented immigrants to clean floors.

They ought to be fined about $10 Billion for selling out this country like the rest of the multinational one world mega scum.