Speech #960288296

The imoact on the job market of millions of illegal workers in the United States is substantial. The ready supply of illegal labor depresses wages and working conditions. Because of illegal immigrants fear of detection and deportation. they are inclined to work for lower wages and under conditions that legal workers wou.!d not and should not tolerate. The Department of Labor has recently documented millions of dollars in unpaid wages. for example. owed by unscrunulous employers to illegal immigrants. The end result of this is a huge pool of illegal labor that is used by employers and a corresonding large pool of domestic labor which is priced out of the job market. Unemnloyed Americans increasingly must depend on taxpayersupported assistance programs in order to maintain a decent standard of living. There is a prevailing myth that illegal immigrants only take the jobs which Americans shun. This thesis is untrue. Millions of Americans. primarily minority youth and older workers. hold jobs where the hours are long. pay is low. and work is hard. And many of our unemployed would take any job that pays a decent wage and is safe. Yet some employers will turn Americans away from jobs they have held for many years to hire easilyexploited illegal immigrants willing to work for lower wages and without complaint. It is true that some of the jobs taken by illegal immigrants are unattractive to many of us. However. this does not mean that they are not sought by many of our unemployed. These jobs are important to our total job market and serve as a stepping stone to better positions. The Border Research Institute of Trinity University recently released its interim report on "The Importance of the Urban Mexican Worker in Reevaluating U.S. Immigration Policies." This report states that: We would argue that although the urban secondary labor market is characterized by lowpaying. deadend jobs. it is utilized by most noncollege youth to encounter their first jobs. and that a highly significant number of married females are employed in this labor market in order to supplement the salaries of workingclass husbands. and although averaging only half of their husbands salary. the augmentation of family income provides the margin by which middleclass living standards are maintained. (4) urban blacks and MexicanAmericans are becoming increasingly restive in cities like Los Angeles. Chicago. and Houston. as they find themselves forced to compete with illegal migrants for employment. Considering the present downward overall trend of the economy. the expected rise in unemployment due to the application of inflation controls. and the anticipated lower levels of federal and state assistance to most social services. the secondary labor market will become an important factor of subsistence for urban minorities. The argument that the jobs at the lower end of the employment scale are very much in demand by domestic labor is substantiated by a major new study done by the U.S. Department of Labor. The New York Times. which obtained a copy of the report. states that it indicates unemployment among American youth is much higher than official figures now indicate. However. the most significant finding is that these young people are more than willing to take the type of jobs which many would have us believe only illegal aliens want. The Department of Labor survey found that: A majority of the young people would be willing to take lowpaying jobs in such areas as fastfood restaurants. cleaning establishments. supermarkets as well as dishwashing. A substantial number of the young people surveyed said they would work at below the minimum wage. I believe that this survey strongly indicates that our unemployed youth are willing to start at the bottom and work their way up. However. this is impossible if the available jobs are taken by millions of illegal aliens. Where once illegal immigrants were primarily in agricultural jobs. now they are wellentrenched in service. construction and manufacturing positions. Illegal immigrants have been increasingly taking better jobs with higher pay. The Border Research Institutes report found that: It is becoming increasingly clear in our study of urban Mexican chain migration that: (1) the urban Mexican illegal migrant is increasingly finding employment in the industrial. construction. and service areas of the labor market in large northern cities at salaries well above the minimum wage level. (2) the presence of larger numbers of illegal migrants with specific skills. staying in the United States for longer periods of time. is undercutting the manpower goals and strategies of the Department of Labor as we perceive a high proportion of skilled and semiskilled positions held by illegal migrants are precisely those for which the CETA program is training unemployed and disadvantaged youth. Since about 60 percent of illegal immigrants come from Mexico the sgniflcance of these findings cannot be discounted. This trend toward higher salaries for illegal immigrant workers is further supported by statistics prepared by the INS on salaries of apprehended illegal immigrants. For fiscal 1978. over half the illegal immigrants apprehended had salaries in the $2.50 to $4.49 per hour range and a significant number were in the hourly category of $6.50 and over. The North American Congress on Latin America. in a report on illegal immigrants in New York City issued last year. discounted another persistent myth about illegals. that they are poor. uneducated. rural young men. NACLA found in a limited survey: These people came to the United States almost entirely from urban areas. They had substantial wage labor experience under their belts and most held jobs immediately before leaving.