Thread: Pay dips in jobs held by immigrants

http://www.contracostatimes.com

Posted on Sun, Jul. 16, 2006

Pay dips in jobs held by immigrants
Analysis finds that industries with a large number of foreign-born workers experience depressed wages
By George Avalos
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

The surge of immigrants in recent years appears to have depressed the paychecks of East Bay workers in jobs with a big share of foreign-born employees.

These occupations tend to pay less than the average job in the East Bay, a Times analysis of state wage data shows.

And that gap has increased in the past four years, at a time when the state has experienced a steady increase in immigrants, primarily from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

The findings come as the nation wrestles with the contentious issue of immigration. Some policymakers and activists want to halt illegal immigration through a combination of tough border security and enforcement of immigration laws. Others call for remedies such as a guest worker program for the millions of illegal immigrants already here.

"Anytime you have a large number of workers who are available in a particular occupation, it is going to depress wages," said Jack Martin, special projects director with the Federation for American Immigration Reform. FAIR endorses a crackdown on illegal immigration and curbs on all immigration. "It's simple supply and demand."

Not so, countered Brian Wesbury, chief economist with First Trust Advisors. "You can't just say that illegal immigration drives wages down," Wesbury said. "Those tend to be lower-paying industries or career paths anyway. ... There may be a thousand things going on. It could be the region, the macro-economy, seasonal factors, cyclical trends."

Certainly, there could be other explanations for the weakness in wages. But the data do show a consistent pattern of wage gaps in occupations with large numbers of foreign-born immigrants.

The average pay of people in those occupations is well below the average of all workers in the East Bay, according to a Times analysis of data supplied by the state's Employment Development Department. These occupations were chosen because they were identified by the Pew Hispanic Center as having a large share of foreign-born Latinos, who make up the bulk of recent California immigrants.

What's more, these paycheck trends have worsened in recent years.

In the third quarter of 2001, the average East Bay wage for 20 occupations identified by Pew as having the largest share of foreign-born Latinos was $32,099 a year. That was 22 percent below the average wage for all jobs in the East Bay at that time.

By the third quarter of 2005, the average East Bay wage for the same 20 occupations was $34,638 -- but that was 27 percent below the average East Bay wage.

Arindrajit Dube, an economist with UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education, said he believes immigrants are not having an outsized effect on pay in these occupations.

"The impact on wages is much smaller than what is present in the popular perception," Dube said. "Research done at the university indicates very little impact from immigrant workers on native wages."

The average wage for these occupations did rise over the four years, by 8 percent. But that was roughly half the pace of the overall wage gains for all East Bay workers during the same period, 15 percent.

"In our struggle to get higher wages for employees, our problem is probably magnified in occupations where there is an immigrant population in the work force," said Adolph Felix, business representative for the Hayward-based Teamsters Local 78. "It is particularly a problem when there are undocumented workers in those occupations."

The wage erosion has occurred in some of the fastest-expanding occupations in the East Bay. That includes construction jobs, which have been critical in bolstering the East Bay's robust economy.

Six of the occupations that suffered depressed wages were in construction-oriented fields.

"Immigration is having a depressing effect on wages and jobs," said Peter Brimelow, author of the best-selling book "Alien Nation: Common Sense about America's Immigration Disaster" and editor of Vdare.com, an online newsletter about immigration issues. "That is why businesses are so keen to have immigrants here. They are a source of cheap labor."

The total foreign-born population in California in mid-2005 was 10.3 million residents -- or about 28 percent of California's total population, according to estimates calculated using Census Bureau data. That's up from 8.9 million in 2000.

Yet some immigrants see the relatively low wages they accept in the United States as dramatically higher than what they might make in Central and South America.

"What I make in a week in America, I have enough to buy food, to buy clothes, to buy what I need," said Francis, an East Bay woman who has worked as a laundry sorter for most of the 17 years she has been in the United States. "In Mexico, I would barely have enough to buy food."

Raul, 34, is an East Bay resident and an immigrant from Mexico who has worked in this country for 11 years without a legal green card, officially called a Permanent Resident Card. Raul, who asked that his last name not be used, views his status here as simple economics.

"Here I make $14 an hour, $100 a day," said Raul, who washes dishes at an Oakland hotel. "In Mexico, people work six days a week and get paid $100" for a week's work.

The bleak wage trends prompted a variety of reactions from East Bay business and labor leaders.

"If you want to say that immigration is illegal and you want to send everybody out of the country, then you have to accept the consequences," said Ernie Guerrero, owner of the La Tapatia restaurants in Concord and Martinez. "You can watch the price of food go up like the price of gas."

Efforts to get immigrants some sort of official status would help workers and consumers alike, said Chloe Osmer, a spokeswoman for the Oakland-based California Labor Federation.

"Without a fair legalization effort, employers will take advantage of a worker's status to exploit them in the workplace," Osmer said. "It also can bring down wages and working conditions for an entire industry."

Immigrants also play a critical role as America ages. More foreign workers will be needed to fill heightened demand for laborers as baby boomers retire, said Amaha Kassa, director of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy.

"We have an aging work force and the labor demand exceeds our population growth," Kassa said. "Our solution would be to bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows and into the above-ground economy."

But foes of illegal immigration argue that the net benefits to the nation from undocumented workers are nonexistent.

"The economy is getting addicted to cheap labor, and the cheap labor here in part because it is being subsidized by the taxpayers," Brimelow said. "Illegal immigration is imposing a heavier and heavier burden on the taxpayers. The economy and the nation are being transformed for nothing."


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George Avalos covers the economy, financial markets, insurance and banks. Reach him at 925-977-8477 or gavalos@cctimes.com.

you want to say that immigration is illegal and you want to send everybody out of the country, then you have to accept the consequences," said Ernie Guerrero, owner of the La Tapatia restaurants in Concord and Martinez. "You can watch the price of food go up like the price of gas."

Fine......it will anyway and I'd much rather pay more knowing the criminals were deported than paying more because some pro-illegal group DEMANDS illegals get paid more.

That argument is so lame that we will pay more, as we already are paying more and more as these companies all charge more and more. I would pay more just to not have the illegal aliens in our country.