"Immigrant Influx Harms Young Workers " Did you see?

Question

This study contradicts a more limited one recently that did not find significant job loss from illegal immigration, although it did not look at reduced wages. The earlier study also did not look at impacts on young workers:

A new study authored by economists at Northeastern University and published by the Center for Immigration Studies finds that the arrival of new immigrants (legal and illegal) in a state is accompanied by a decline in employment among young native-born workers in that state. This indicates that immigration is displacing young native-born workers in the labor market. Although one recent report by another Washington think tank found no relationship between immigration and the troubling recent decline in the employment of the native-born, that study did not focus on young workers, who are often in direct competition with immigrants and are the ones most adversely affected.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060919/pl_usnw/immigrant_influx_harms_young_workers126_xml

That is no surprise to me. When I grew up in Southern California, a lot of my friends had jobs as bag boys or waitressing or in other 'unskilled' jobs. Now kids can't find jobs and parents almost take that for granted. Recently some large grocery chains replace a number of Hispanic baggers with teen agers, and the change was so dramatic, I assumed it had to be a response to the focus on illegal immigration.

What do you think?

WISEMAN Kids are in a different situation. Employers have to make allowances for their school schedules, and lack of job experience. If they can get full time adults in the same low paying jobs, employers think that is great, and have tended to look the other way about immigration status if they could check the box on paperwork. Yet without it, kids have a hard time finding and doing well at later jobs.

xcellix - that would apply to the illegals as well - only they shouldn't get that education at our expense. Teenagers are in the PROCESS of getting an education.

pax, you assume everyone has the means to go to college, which must be a nice world to live in, but isn't reality for many Americans. Many others can ONLY afford to do so if they work their way through at low level, flexible schedule jobs like bagging or at McDonalds, etc. If you ASSUME all youth will be in value added jobs, it totally begs the question, I think.

Answer 1

Yes many of our children have worked and still work to support their cost in life. I have worked with many young who have had a hard time finding employment. Often they were youths supporting their college tuition or costs. Other times to help their families. Some for their car expenses and insurance. Most had good reasons for working-not just to go to the Mall.
When order is disrupted (such as a mass coming in illegal) it will have an affect on others. This is not a good thing-without jobs--kids will find other means to deal with things-one doesn't need a study to see the results.

Answer 2

With unemployment historically low at 4.5% it is hard to believe that it is hard to find employement in USA!. Ecnomic data if suggests anything today is that US need more workers to continue economic growth and prosperity cycle. As a matter of fact the main reason 2007 GDP growth target has been reduced is due to lack of work force and fear of increase in salaries and as a result increase in inflatio

These studies to be taken in right perspective. There will always be pockets in USA experiencing low employment even in best times. Answer is that work force to be moved to those areas which are expericening economic boom like south, south east etc. However, the whole country wants to be in Sunny South of California with lovely beach. This area will always be in trouble with competition b/w mexicans and unskilled americans.

The answer to this problem is to give these immigrants proper legal status so they do not try to hide in big Urban areas but rather feel comfortable to explore rather other areas of country.

Peace

Answer 3

Often times I think surveys/studies/ect are a joke. You have one study changing the results of another study and on it goes.

Answer 4

Generally speaking, immigrant workers do fill the jobs no one wants to do, that are incidently entry level jobs with which a good proportion of fresh and young workforce of any nation begins with.

Most economists have a view to medium term prospects in which an economy is sustained provided all young workers of the homeland went into higher value added jobs.

The pull of immigrants seeking a better life at lower end jobs is juxtaposed with traditional upper tier home industries who are unwilling to let their own children in until they have x number of years of experience. Therein lies one of the major problems. How else is a person new to the labour market supposed to get experience when one is not afforded in the same place ?

A solution would be to allow a larger intake of interns as a test of supervisory and management ability in being able to communicate at all levels, put technical jargon into laymen's terms and manage human resources.

The conventional management performance is based soley on producing higher output, turnovers and better quality control, which sorely misses a rather moot point in the job title "Manager", whose perfomance is in producing short term results, at the cost of medium term prospects and sustainability of the Company's workforce. One also assumes that a suitable replacement is available which is true of professions not requiring integrity and a high attention to technical detail.


Digressing, two superpowers opened their economies back in the 90's:
C.I.S. then U.S.S.R., opened with a double whammy of Glasnost and Perestroika. People's Republic of China with introduced a slower economic reform.
Look where both countries are now. China is leaps and bounds ahead whilst Russia is still struggling to get to gripes with an eco-political system fraught with corruption.
China's cities also saw huge influx of workers from the countrysides (agricultural farmlands).

If we look at the sudden supply of workers where jobs are chasing Companies in the above context, it works largely due to the level of expertise required. Whereas an uncontrollable explosive work force entering the market without direction and sufficient resources resulted in a despotic economic environment.

However, in countries where per capita of income is higher than that of the immigrants' home, minimum wages has to be generous to the point of being able to provide a sustainable low skilled workforce without jeopardising established social norms of the country, such as increased requirement of policing. Yet, Civic job opportunities like language, cultural and technicial skills colleges and centres may flourish. Supermarkets like ?Tescos (UK)? have even catered to immigrant chinese, abeit of higher skills value, with native food like noodles.

Was there not a time in the past when time was lacking, bemoaned by successful industries, so as to allow man to delve into the more pertinent, interesting and complex aspects of society ? If so, the opportunity has presented itself with willing immigrants taking the lower skilled jobs.

Whereas the creation of opportunity coupled with the pull of higher wages in better industries, remains very much held in hands unwilling to let go and strive for much more. Wages would spread across more thinly for a larger talented work force, in that large companies and corporation would be better equipped to approach the world's markets with a degree of confidence and certainty.

So does that then show an information and cultural gap between management and floor staff of companies ? How often have companies begged for non-company supervisors and manager to join their company ? Has existing management failed to convey to lower tier staff the goals of the Company and transmit the much needed technical knowledge to run the affairs of the company ?

In cities of high rents, excess staff are viewed as management lapses and excesses in controlling costs and expenses. Could the alternative be true that management is not ambitious enough and willing to transfer core knowlege down the human chain so that they can take the company to foreign shores for better rewards ?

If so, the approach to human capital management needs reassessing more so than ever.

Personally, two heads are certainly better than one. If one ran a company, one would rather have 20 people pouring through annual reports rather than 10 people doing so, taking into account the down time training staff that one hopes to retain when the internship or job probation period is over. Naturally, you have to wonder if people are willing to sacrifice x months of lower living wages until the company makes better profits.

My two pennies worth.

Answer 5

Solution: GET AN EDUCATION. Easy as that. Don't cry after you've wasted your life that you can't get a good job, and then blame it on others who take advantage of the jobs that are available.

Addition:

SO THEN WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? GET OFF YOUR REAR AND DO SOMETHING!

Answer 6

All of this talking on line does no good....I hope everyone is also letting government know how they feel...from city right up to the white house!

ATTRITION THRU ENFORCEMENT

Answer 7

illegals are destroying the young workers chances

Answer 8

all those teenagers. wow. i do believe you've found the ever elusive american that WILL do those kinds of jobs. ha ha