Do Immigrants Steal Jobs?
Watch this brief video where Zeke Hernandez addresses the common concern that immigrants steal jobs from native-born workers and presents evidence to the contrary.
Key Insights on Immigrants and Job Creation
- The empirical evidence is quite clear: immigrants do NOT, on average, take away jobs or lower the wages of native workers. (There are some exceptional cases in which they do, but be careful not to confuse the general rule with the exception.)
- There are two reasons why this doesn’t happen: (1) When immigrants arrive, demand for products and services goes up, which requires hiring more people. (2) Immigrants don’t compete with natives for the same jobs or the same positions—they’re different.
- Win-win: The differences in the jobs immigrants do actually help native workers increase their earnings because they can specialize in higher-paying positions that play to their strengths.
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How To Talk About Immigration
Conversations about immigration can be challenging due to its politicization, leading to avoidance, echo chambers, or confrontations.
This guide offers principles based on expert research and the author’s experiences, aimed at facilitating constructive discussions about immigration.
Case studies/examples
- “2.1 Million Manufacturing Jobs Could Go Unfilled by 2030,” National Association of Manufacturers, May 4, 2021, https://www.nam.org/2–1-million-manufacturing-jobs-could-go-unfilled-by-2030-13743/.
- Michael Clemens, “International Harvest: A Case Study of How Foreign Workers Help American Farms Grow Crops—and the Economy,” Partnership for a New American Economy and the Center for Global Development, 2013, https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/international-harvest2/.
- Maia Hart, “Kiwis Are Gaining Jobs as a Result of Overseas Workers Scheme, RSE Survey Shows,” Stuff, July 22, 2019, https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/114327421/rse-scheme-means-more-jobs-for-kiwis–survey.
- Vanessa Romo, “Why Florida’s New Immigration Law Is Troubling Businesses and Workers Alike,” NPR, May 30, 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/05/30/1177657218/florida-anti-immigration-law-1718-desantis.
Prompting Meaningful Dialogue
- What evidence counters the myth that immigrants steal jobs and lower wages?
- How do immigrants and native-born workers complement each other in the job market?
- Can you identify examples in your community where immigrants have created jobs and driven economic growth?
Further reading and research:
Ready to learn more? Access detailed studies, articles, and reports that provide a factual, in-depth look at the contributions and impacts of immigrants in our society.
- https://www.nber.org/papers/w32389
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2017). - Ingar Haaland and Christopher Roth, “Labor Market Concerns and Support for Immigration,” Journal of Public Economics 191 (November 1, 2020): 104256, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104256.
David Card, “The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 43, no. 2 (1990): 245–57. - David Card, “Immigrant Inflows, Native Outflows, and the Local Labor Market Impacts of Higher Immigration,” Journal of Labor Economics 19, no. 1 (January 2001): 22–64, https://doi.org/10.1086/209979.
George J. Borjas, “The Labor Demand Curve Is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 118, no. 4 (November 1, 2003): 1335–74, https://doi.org/10.1162/003355303322552810 - George J. Borjas, “The Wage Impact of the Marielitos: A Reappraisal,” ILR Review 70, no. 5 (October 1, 2017): 1077–1110, https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793917692945.
Michael A. Clemens and Jennifer Hunt, “The Labor Market Effects of Refugee Waves: Reconciling Conflicting Results,” ILR Review 72, no. 4 (August 1, 2019): 818–57, https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793918824597
Giovanni Peri and Vasil Yasenov, “The Labor Market Effects of a Refugee Wave: Applying the Synthetic Control Method to the Mariel Boatlift,” Working Paper 21801, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2015, https://doi.org/10.3386/w21801. - George J. Borjas, “The Wage Impact of the Marielitos: The Role of Race,” ILR Review 72, no. 4 (August 1, 2019): 858–70, https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793919825753.
Philip Bump, “A Reporter Pressed the White House for Data. That’s When Things Got Tense,” Washington Post, August 2, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/08/02/a-reporter-pressed-the-white-house-for-data-thats-when-things-got-tense/. - George J. Borjas and Kirk B. Doran, “The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 127, no. 3 (August 1, 2012): 1143–1203, https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjs015.
- Christian Dustmann, Uta Schönberg, and Jan Stuhler, “Labor Supply Shocks, Native Wages, and the Adjustment of Local Employment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 132, no. 1 (February 1, 2017): 435–83, https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjw032.
Marcelo Castillo, “H-2A Temporary Agricultural Job Certifications Continued to Soar in 2022,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, March 3, 2023, https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2023/march/h-2a-temporary-agricultural-job-certifications-continued-to-soar-in-2022. - Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-Born Workers Summary-2022,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 18, 2023, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/forbrn.nr0.htm.
Giovanni Peri and Chad Sparber, “Task Specialization, Immigration, and Wages,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1, no. 3 (July 2009): 135–69, https://doi.org/10.1257/app.1.3.135.
Ethan Lewis, “Immigration and Production Technology,” Annual Review of Economics 5, no. 1 (2013): 165–91, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080612-134132 - Ethan G. Lewis, “Immigrant-Native Substitutability: The Role of Language Ability,” Working Paper 17609, National Bureau of Economic Research, November 2011, https://doi.org/10.3386/w17609
Giovanni Peri, “Rethinking the Area Approach: Immigrants and the Labor Market in California,” Journal of International Economics 84, no. 1 (May 1, 2011): 1–14, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2011.02.002
Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano and Giovanni Peri, “Rethinking the Effect of Immigration on Wages,” Journal of the European Economic Association 10, no. 1 (February 1, 2012): 152–97, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1542-4774.2011.01052.x. - Christopher L. Smith, “The Impact of Low-Skilled Immigration on the Youth Labor Market,” Journal of Labor Economics 30, no. 1 (2012): 55–89, https://doi.org/10.1086/662073.
Jongkwan Lee, Giovanni Peri, and Vasil Yasenov, “The Labor Market Effects of Mexican Repatriations: Longitudinal Evidence from the 1930s,” Journal of Public Economics 205 (January 1, 2022): 104558, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104558. - Michael A. Clemens, Ethan G. Lewis, and Hannah M. Postel, “Immigration Restrictions as Active Labor Market Policy: Evidence from the Mexican Bracero Exclusion,” American Economic Review 108, no. 6 (June 2018): 1468–87, https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20170765.
- Shmuel San, “Labor Supply and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Termination of the Bracero Program in 1964,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 15, no. 1 (January 2023): 136–63, https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20200664.
- Michael A. Clemens and Ethan G. Lewis, “The Effect of Low-Skill Immigration Restrictions on US Firms and Workers: Evidence from a Randomized Lottery,” Working Paper 30589, National Bureau of Economic Research, October 2022, https://doi.org/10.3386/w30589.