Thread: Need Help With Article for Newspaper Concerning illegals

There is a lot of construction going on in my city and many sites have suspected illegals. Infact, one friend I know confirmed that at least 2 companies employs illegals on a regular basis.

So, my aim is to do a letter to the editor article (which I've done for past 5 years) and touch upon the topic of illegals and how they affect our construction industry.

What I'm needing help with is some raw stats, such as, the estimated % drop in wages for construction workers and perhaps a estimated % of the workforce illegals make up. I was listening to the Savage NAtion (Micheal Savage) and a guy called in, explaining that illegals aren't just taking non-skilled labor jobs in this sector, but also masonery jobs.

So anyways, any help would be appreciated..My article will be about 3 paragraphs long, so will make it as consise as possible and only need just a couple stats/figures.

I'm waiting on my telescopic lens, but when I get it, plan to hit the construction sites.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/back504.html

• By increasing the supply of labor between 1980 and 2000, immigration reduced the average annual earnings of native-born men by an estimated $1,700 or roughly 4 percent.

• Among natives without a high school education, who roughly correspond to the poorest tenth of the workforce, the estimated impact was even larger, reducing their wages by 7.4 percent.

• The 10 million native-born workers without a high school degree face the most competition from immigrants, as do the eight million younger natives with only a high school education and 12 million younger college graduates.

• The negative effect on native-born black and Hispanic workers is significantly larger than on whites because a much larger share of minorities are in direct competition with immigrants.

• The reduction in earnings occurs regardless of whether the immigrants are legal or illegal, permanent or temporary. It is the presence of additional workers that reduces wages, not their legal status.

The study by George Borjas that Pinestraw cites is an excellent resource. Be sure to check out that one.

You should also check out the rest of the studies at Center for Immigration Studies (www.cis.org).

Click on the section that deals with employment and wages, they have a ton of excellent studies and congressional testimonies.

k, thanks guys, think this will do.. will likely try to write it up sometime this weekend..