Thread: Cost of illegal worker crackdown questioned

Cost of illegal worker crackdown questioned

Updated 18h 51m ago


WASHINGTON (AP) — The government's plan to crack down on illegal workers could cost employers more than $1 billion a year and legal workers billions in lost wages, a study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says.

Those costs are enough to trigger a federal law that would require the Homeland Security Department to analyze more thoroughly the effect of its proposal, said Richard Belzer, a consultant hired by the chamber to do the study. It was made available to The Associated Press on Thursday.

The department's proposed "no match" rule would require employers to fire workers who can't resolve mismatches between their name and Social Security number. The chamber opposes the proposal.

Belzer's study will be among public comments submitted to the Homeland Security Department on the proposal. The department could adopt the proposal after reviewing the comments. The deadline for comments is Friday.

Social Security sends no-match letters to employers. They often occur because someone is working illegally, but a mismatch can also take place because of typos, misspellings and name changes, among other reasons.

The Homeland Security Department issued average costs for employers based on how many employees they have and what% might be unauthorized workers. It determined there would not be a heavy cost to employers.

Belzer, a former economist with the Office of Management and Budget, looked at overall costs and multiplied the average costs by the number of employers in each category. He also used the Homeland Security's estimates that 2% of legal workers a year would lose their jobs because they can't resolve the Social Security mismatch.

That adds up to between 37,000 to 137,000 unable to get work. Belzer estimated their lost wages would be from $8 billion to $37 billion.

Belzer said the crackdown could cost employers who have to carry out administrative paperwork when their employees are affected. The loss of employees could also affect a company's ability to produce goods.

His cost estimates are based on the department's now -suspended plan to enforce the no-match rule after the government sent 140,000 employers no-match letters, each with about 10 or more names. A U.S. district judge blocked the plan last October after groups opposed to it sued. The department is appealing.

A law in place since 1981 requires agencies to do a comprehensive study of proposed regulations if the cost exceeds $100 million, said Belzer, an independent consultant.

"This is 10 times that," Belzer said. "They haven't done the level of analysis that for almost 30 years would be commonplace."

Russ Knocke, the department's spokesman, said while the he is "not shy to talk about the virtues of no-match, it's difficult to talk about something I have not seen."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... rker_N.htm

Originally Posted by Doots

[b]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government's plan to crack down on illegal workers could cost employers more than $1 billion a year and legal workers billions in lost wages, a study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says.

The Chamber of Commerce is an open borders and Indian offshoring shill:

http://www.ventureoutsource.com/contrac ... offshoring

"The Chamber issued two landmark reports on the topics of outsourcing and U.S. competitiveness. Our 2004 report titled "Jobs, Trade, Sourcing, and the Future of the American Workforce," found little hard data to support fears about outsourcing and claims of an impending exodus of U.S. jobs overseas. Our 2006 follow-up report, "Global Engagement: How Americans Can Win and Prosper in the Worldwide Economy", found that overwhelmingly, Americans benefit from the nation's openness to trade; foreign investment, immigrants, and international visitors."

I guess millions of out of work Americans certainly had little to fear, didn't they...

a study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says.

Hmmm........not much credibility there.

The government's plan to crack down on illegal workers could cost employers more than $1 billion a year and legal workers billions in lost wages, a study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says.

And likely save American taxpayers tens of billions more, while increasing the wages of hard working Americans.

I read no farther than the chamber of commerce.

Who cares!!! Those companies have been making lots of money from hiring these workers.
So what? Your CEO's won't get millions in bonus's! Who Cares about your sorry butts........
It always gets worse before it gets better. Enjoy the worse part!
Who Cares!!!!

It will only cost at first, once we have illegals out of the work force and our SS system is fixed and legal again, the only cost will be for new hires....score a brain!! Think of the 338 billion taxpayers will save each year!

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

It will only cost at first, once we have illegals out of the work force and our SS system is fixed and legal again, the only cost will be for new hires....score a brain!! Think of the 338 billion taxpayers will save each year!

They are hoping we do not think deeply about it SOSAD! They are hoping we will want to keep the illegals, like they do! THEY ARE OUT OF TOUCH, NOT TO MENTION OUT OF LUCK!!!!

Originally Posted by April

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

It will only cost at first, once we have illegals out of the work force and our SS system is fixed and legal again, the only cost will be for new hires....score a brain!! Think of the 338 billion taxpayers will save each year!

They are hoping we do not think deeply about it SOSAD! They are hoping we will want to keep the illegals, like they do! THEY ARE OUT OF TOUCH, NOT TO MENTION OUT OF LUCK!!!!

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

It will only cost at first, once we have illegals out of the work force and our SS system is fixed and legal again, the only cost will be for new hires....score a brain!! Think of the 338 billion taxpayers will save each year!

The companies complaining, hate the costs of "regular pay," Workman's Comp, Overtime Pay, number of legal hours to work, and no harrassment or discrimination allowed to us Americans.

They have been under-cutting other companies that have been playing by the rules, so I don't care if they lose money for awhile. They'll get use to it.
The savings you speak of is for us taxpayers and the government, companies could care less about that.