We absolutely dont need to go back to a system that allows selfinterested union organizers to force people into unions when they are already making higher wages then they have ever made before. as they are in Alabama. I absolutely dont believe that unions are the way to see us make progress on wages. But I am concerned that the net effect of large flows of immigration is that wages are being brought down. It is not responsible to have immigration policies that depress the wages of American workers. Some of the immigrants are legal. but most are not legal. Together. they are pulling down wages of the Americans that compete with them in the labor market. We have had expert testimony to that effect. I cite to my colleagues a professor at the Kennedy School at Government at Harvard University. himself a Cuban refugee. George Borjas. He says that working wages for Americans have been pulled down by as much as 8 percent in the areas where immigration is highest. That is a significant amount. Instead of going up in a booming economy. wages have gone down. Alan Tonelson. a research fellow from the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation testified that from 2000 to 2005. in job categories where competition from illegal immigrants is the highest. real wagesthose adjusted for inflationwent down. even though demand for labor was going up. How could it be otherwise? Dont we believe in a free market?
Identified stereotypes
Generalization that immigrants are pulling down wages of American workers.