Many of them learn English as a second language in their schools. In an age of global television and the universality of American culture. their assimilation. in a real sense. begins before they come here. Finally. the fear is raised that under this bill immigrants will be taking jobs away from Americans at a time we find it difficult to lower our unemployment rate below 4 percent. Mr. President. I have already described the more stringent controls that this bill gives to the Secretary of Labor to insure against any adverse effects of immigration on American labor. I would also point out that this measure has the complete support of the AFLCIO. support that would not be forthcoming if the fear of job loss for Americans were real. The fact is that most immigrants do not enter the labor market at allthey are consumers and create demands for additional labor. Since 1947. only 47 percent of our total immigration entered the labor force. while 53 percent became consumers only. providing a net increase in the demand for goods and services. Of our total immigrant work force since 1947. approximately onethird entered professional and technical occupationsa ratio higher than that for our own domestic labor force. Last year alone. some 20.000 immigrants entered jobs defined as critical occupations by the Selective Service System. These are the people whose creativity makes more jobs. not fewer. In this connection. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD two tables summarizing occupational distribution of recent immigration. which bear this out.
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