Trump says banning immigrants helps US workers. A leading economist says hes wrong.

https://www.vox.com/2017/8/3/16090042/immigration-reform-donald-trump-stephen-miller

by Sean Illing at Vox

"SNIP...........


It is indeed intuitive to people that when there are more workers around, wages drop. But that’s a bad cartoon of how complex the economy is. I think it’s also intuitive to people that workers and firms adjust to changes in the labor supply in myriad ways. US workers respond to there being more workers around by moving to where there’s more opportunity, by going into business for themselves, and by specializing in tasks that use their strengths, like native English ability.

Women in the US respond to the presence of low-skill immigrants by entering the labor force, because immigrants make child care and elder care more accessible. Firms respond to there being more workers around by shifting toward production technologies that use labor more intensively, by moving plants from one place to another, and by producing in new ways that allow natives and immigrants to specialize in different tasks.

These complex adjustments are very intuitive to Americans out there who depend on low-skill immigrants caring for their kids, preparing food in kitchens, guarding buildings, shipping fresh vegetables. So I think when people stop to think about it, the “intuitive” thing is that immigrants fuel the US economy overall, creating more opportunity for US workers than the jobs that they take themselves. And that has been true for many, many generations in this country.


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I would add that all those jobs in the 'service economy' depend on a growing population at home.