Thread: Calculating the Cost of Immigration in America

HOME / BUSINESS /

Calculating the Cost of Immigration in America

• Sam Becker Google+ Twitter
• MORE ARTICLES

• January 22, 2015

• FACEBOOK
• TWITTER
• LINKEDIN
• GOOGLEPLUS
• STUMBLEUPON
• REDDIT

80 Reactions

Your Reaction?

Undocumented Mexican immigrants walk through the Sonoran Desert after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border border on January 19, 2011 into the Tohono O’odham Nation, Arizona. The immigrants said they had wandered the desert lost for a week after crossing from Mexico into the vast Indian reservation at night. Exhausted, they requested the Border Patrol to pick them up and take them to the U.S.-Mexico border, from where they would return to their homes in the Mexican state of Sonora. They had come, they said, to reach Phoenix and find work in construction or landscaping. All said they had worked in Arizona before. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

At the heart of the debate surrounding immigration, both legal and illegal, is the question of how much our policies actually cost the economy at large. These costs include factors like unpaid taxes and jobs lost that would have otherwise gone to natural-born citizens. Some argue that immigrants don’t only create a drag on the economy, but that they perpetuate it as well. This, despite the fact that many immigrants hold steady jobs, start businesses, and pay taxes in one form or another, has become one of the headline mantras of conservatives in the U.S.
What do you think?


Aetna individual health plansFind an Aetna plan that works[COLOR=#256BB8 !important]for your life. Get a quote today.[COLOR=#AAAAAA !important]ads by Swoop[/COLOR]



To get a grasp on the approximate value that immigrants bring to the economy, researchers at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) dug into whatever data was available — mostly Census data combined with research from Pew, as well as the EPI’s own research. The EPI says that there are roughly 40 million immigrants currently living in the United States, 11.7 million of whom (about 29%) are in the country illegally. Illegal immigrants make up 3.7% percent of the overall U.S. population but account for 5.2% of the labor force, mostly because the majority of them are working-age adults.
What do you think?


While most people picture people of Hispanic origin when the topic of illegal immigration comes up, it’s also important to note that there are significant populations of immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Europe in the U.S. as well.
What do you think?

17 Reactions

Source: Economic Policy Institute

The big picture
What do you think?

How much value are immigrants bringing to the economy, versus the overall costs it takes to adopt them into American society? This is a much more complicated calculation than it appears, but since there really is no accurate way to gather all the data necessary and do an intense analysis, a simplified calculation may give us a ballpark idea of immigration’s effect.
What do you think?

The chart above shows the overall economic input provided by the total population of the United States, divided up by U.S. born individuals and immigrants. The data shows that immigrants total share of economic input is just under 15% of the total. Immigrants make up 13% of the U.S. population overall, so when those two numbers are compared, it’s safe to say that the immigrant population appears to be pulling its own weight in terms of output.
What do you think?

There is also evidence to support the idea that if the immigration process was streamlined and reformed successfully, the results would have a positive impact on national deficit levels. Of course, that would require Congress to act on a reform bill of some sort, which they have been unable, or unwilling, to do for quite some time.
1

23 Reactions

Source: Economic Policy Institute

As far as the monetary costs of immigration go, the factors most often taken into account are effects on employment, wages, and the use of public resources. According to the EPI, immigration has both a positive and negative effect on the employment numbers of native-born citizens. “The evidence shows that in the long run, immigrants do not reduce native employment rates. But some evidence suggests that in the short run, immigration may slightly reduce native employment, because the economy takes time to adjust to new immigration,” the EPI says.
2

So there’s our answer as far as employment rates, but what about wages? Do immigrants cause a decrease in overall earnings? The chart above contains data sourced from another EPI study from 2010, which says that the people most likely to suffer as a result of new immigration are, well, immigrants. That is, those who could easily be replaced by other immigrants are in the greatest danger of seeing their wages depressed. From that data, it appears that most native-born Americans are at very little risk of running into issues with their wages as a result of new immigration.
What do you think?

Finally, what about public resources? Many people are quick to bring up instances of immigrants, particularly those here illegally, receiving food stamps or housing assistance. As it turns out, public welfare programs are used by immigrant families (both legal and illegal) at a fairly high rate. The Center for Immigrant Studies found that in 2011, 57% of households headed by an immigrant with at least one child used at least one social program, as opposed to 39% for natives. So, yes, both camps of immigrants are getting their hands on public money at a higher rate than natural-born citizens. It’s still unclear, however, how much that actually adds up to in dollars and cents.
7

After reviewing the data from a macro-level, it’s hard to say definitively that immigration is a boon on the economy. There are definitely many details that are being glossed over which can change this assessment, but by taking into account the major costs and economic input supplied by immigrant populations, it appears that there is an overall positive impact.

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/business...tml/?a=viewall
[/COLOR]

Oh my God, where to begin with this ridiculous piece and its faulty conclusions! Hey, Dumber On Wall Street Cheat Sheet! Immigrants do not pull their own weight. They steal a job from an American at a lower wage and "pull their weight" with a job that belonged to someone else while in the majority of cases signing up for welfare to boot because their wages are too low. That is NOT pulling your own weight. Not only do they NOT "pull their own weight", because they took a job from an American and lowered the wage for those industries and businesses, the American they displaced can now no longer "pull their own weight" because either a) an equal job is not available resulting in the American being unemployed or b) the wages at the new job are too low to sustain themselves resulting in the American being underemployed and now having to sign up for welfare to make up the difference.

Immigrants do NOT "pull their own weight" and immigration is NOT a "boon to the economy". Immigrants displace American Workers and drain our public resources. These are facts that no "study" or "cheat sheet" can dispute or refute. After this long period of massive increased immigration, our household income has dropped over $4,000 a year while the cost of living has increased, wages are depressed or stagnant, our "public resource" debt is already over $18 trillion heading unstopped to $20 trillion, and all new job growth went to illegal aliens and immigrants for the past several years.

So those in Congress refusing to pass an "immigration reform" bill are right, because they have the common sense and intelligence to know this simple formula:

People In (Immigration) + Jobs Out (Free Trade) = Bankrupt Nation

Here is the real story from the real Wall Street Journal on the decline of American workers and household income in the US economy:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014...68750027784434

Yes, down over $4,000 a year. "Why" isn't explained very well by this article as one might expect from the Wall Street Journal. However, what happened during those years? Immigration was expanded, both legal and illegal, allowing millions of workers and "families" in to steal jobs and sign up for welfare. Free Trade Treason hit US like a ton of bricks costing US over 5 million manufacturing jobs that because of the multiplier effect of production on our economy cost US a total of over 30 million jobs. The debt already higher than it should have been but still less than $5.7 trillion in 2000, is now over $18 Trillion and unstoppable. You don't need a chart or a study, let alone a "cheat sheet" to understand the adverse consequences of massive immigration and bad free trade policies to see their direct adverse consequences on Americans and our public coffers.

These insane immigration and trade policies coupled with a destructive income tax system have destroyed the US economy and any possibility of a self-sustaining standard-of-living, and there is no way to fix any of it unless and until you manipulative morons in charge of this once great nation reverse the policies that caused this disaster.

Judy's Five Steps To Fix the US Economy:

1. stop illegal immigration and reduce legal immigration
2. pass the FairTax
3. restore protected fair trade
4. legalize and regulate the illegal drug trade
5. drill baby drill, but do it right

That's it in a nutshell, morons.

Any of you puffed up overpaid slight of hand, two-faced, double-dealing, slimy traitors pulling our country down into the outhouse got the guts to actually lead and fix? No. You don't. You're all a bunch of losers selling out the greatest nation there ever was and turning it into the World's Largest Banana Republic for your share of drug cartel payola. Let that truth stand on your Tombstones.