Immigrants boost pay, not prison populations, new studies show

Two new studies by California researchers counter negative perceptions that immigrants increase crime and job competition, showing that they are incarcerated at far lower rates than native-born citizens and actually help boost their wages.

A study released Tuesday by the Public Policy Institute of California found that immigrants who arrived in the state between 1990 and 2004 increased wages for native workers by an average 4%.

UC Davis economist Giovanni Peri, who conducted the study, said the benefits were shared by all native-born workers, from high school dropouts to college graduates, because immigrants generally perform complementary rather than competitive work.
...
Another study released Monday by the Washington-based Immigration Policy Center showed that immigrant men ages 18 to 39 had an incarceration rate five times lower than native-born citizens in every ethnic group examined. Among men of Mexican descent, for instance, 0.7% of those foreign-born were incarcerated compared to 5.9% of native-born, according to the study, co-written by UC Irvine sociologist Ruben G. Rumbaut.

Both studies are based on U.S. census data, which includes both legal and illegal immigrants. They were released just days before the U.S. Congress is to restart debate on major immigration reform legislation and as numerous states, including Texas, consider harsh measures against illegal migrants.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-me-immigstudy28feb28,1,4004926.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

:rofl:

Sounds reasonable to me.



As immigrants filled lower-skilled jobs, they pushed natives up the economic ladder into employment that required more English or know-how of the U.S. system, he said.

"The big message is that there is no big loss from immigration," Peri said. "There are gains, and these are enjoyed by a much bigger share of the population than is commonly believed."

But let's ignore the research and go with our "truthier" gut feelings, eh?

paid for by Oil companies

that doesn't mean it is true...

All I know is American wages have gone down

http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=737



One data limitation is that the study can not segregate illegal from legal immigrants in the analysis,a difference that may help explain the fourth finding. The foreign born include a much higher percentage of PhD holders than the native born residents and a much higher percentage of those lacking a high school diploma.

Please distinguish between illegal and illegal immigrants!

The PPIC analysis relied on standard data sets and those data do not categorize the foreign born by immigration status. Thus there is no separation in their analysis of legal and illegal immigrants.

Its very dishonest to talk about one as if it were equivalent to the other, when they are not.

for basically every year that the CPI has been measured. The argument about wages is debatable both ways but the fact that the price of consumer goods increases with increasing immigration is not debatable. The relationship is undeniable; therefore, even if you aren't having your wages depressed directly by immigrants (legal, illegal, or both), you are having your wages deprtessed indirectly by the decreased purchasing power of your earned income incured as a result of the immigration. Bring on the flames baby.

Too late to recommend :(