http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/ ... -jobs-9222

Ariz. law pushing illegal immigrants into informal jobs
March 15, 2011 | Joanna Lin

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While the Arizona law requiring employers to verify worker authorization has led to fewer illegal immigrants in the state, it has also pushed undocumented workers into informal or underground employment, raising the possibility of other economic and societal costs, according to a report released yesterday by a nonpartisan research group.

The Legal Arizona Workers Act, which took effect in 2008, requires employers to verify the identity and work authorization of new hires using a free federal program called E-Verify. The law is of great interest in California, whose illegal immigrant population – about 2.6 million – is the largest in the country. Several California cities have adopted similar mandates, and more are considering following suit.

From 2008 to 2009, the Arizona law reduced the number of non-citizen Hispanic immigrants, a large proportion of whom are undocumented, by about 92,000, or 17 percent, the Public Policy Institute of California found. As much as 74 to 92 percent of the decline can be attributed to the law, according to the report.

About 56,000 wage and salary jobs held by non-citizen Hispanics dried up because of the law, while self-employment among this group increased by about 25,000, the report found. Arizona's E-Verify mandate excludes independent contractors from its definition of an employee.

"Our research indicates that mandating E-Verify in Arizona achieved the intended goal of reducing the number of unauthorized immigrants in the state. However, it also had the unintended consequence of shifting unauthorized workers into less formal work arrangements," the report's authors wrote. "Policymakers must weigh the sought-after drop in unauthorized employment against the costs associated with shifting workers into informal employment."

The report assessed employment trends in Arizona and in neighboring states to control for the recession, which reduced immigration to Arizona and the U.S. overall. It also found no increase in immigration enforcement during the time the law was enacted.

The law has had the greatest impact on less-educated, non-citizen Hispanic men of working age, 16 to 45, according to the report. In the two years since Arizona's E-Verify mandate, employment among this group was 11 to 12 percentage points lower than in comparison states – what report authors called a "synthetic Arizona" representing the state's employment trends before the law.


We knew this would happen. We all need to be pushing for a law like WY has, THey dont allow any independent contract work at all in their state.