As 2,000 anti-immigrant protesters marched
in Washington DC to oppose the Senate-proposed immigration reform bill, they wore
red T-shirts proclaiming “Protect American Jobs, No Amnesty!” Former Congressman Allan West spoke at the
event saying, “Take care of Americans first.
Get Americans back to work. Get our children back in colleges and
universities.” Modern anti-immigrant
activists commonly paint immigrants as a threat to the local working population. Republican Congressman Mo Brooks recently
repeated the mantra, asserting “These are American jobs for American citizens.” This type of jobs-based xenophobia is not
unique to the United States.
Recently, the conservative candidate contesting the
presidential election in November in Chile, Pablo Longuiera, went
on national television asserting that illegal immigrants in Chile take jobs
away from Chileans. More extreme groups
such as the Northern
League in Italy and UKIP
in the United Kingdom have also made similar assertions when attacking immigration. The fact that empirical research (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
overwhelmingly contravenes this assertion has had little impact on the public
debate. In fact, research now indicates that job
displacement resulting from immigration actually increases the upward mobility
of native workers. By filling jobs at
the “low” end of the occupational structure, immigrants create opportunities
and incentives for native workers in higher occupational tiers. In a perceptive
analysis, Hiroshi Motomura, notes that any job displacement caused by
immigration among native workers is a reflection more on the failure of
educational policy than a failure of immigration policy. This insight bears repeating.
What Professor Motomura points out is that potential labor displacement
of native workers is the result of a lack of upward mobility
opportunities. In the United States, the
effect of fully grasping this reality would be drastic. Instead of clamoring to shut the borders and expel
immigrants, threatened communities would be demanding the opportunity to advance
in their own society. When speaking at the
anti-immigrant rally former Congressman Allen West inadvertently hit the nail
on the head; “Get our children back in colleges and universities.” If immigrants are displacing US workers, the
fault lies in our own failure to educate and prepare our children and workforce
in general to compete. For example, if a
laborer from El Salvador is really taking a job from a person born in Arizona; that
implies the educational system in Arizona is no better than that in El
Salvador.
The global mobility of capital, off-shoring and outsourcing,
all show no signs of abating. This means
that US workers will have to compete globally regardless of the government’s
ability to drive out internal competition from immigrants. Due to high costs of living and expected
living standards in developed countries, competitive advantage in countries
like the US lies in having a highly skilled workforce. This is achieved through education.
Therefore, instead of spending an additional $6.5
billion on border enforcement, as the Senate reform bill proposes, that
money should be funneled into education.
Some organizations assert that the failure of the US educational system
has reached crisis
levels. US students are less prepared
for higher education. US employers are
finding it more difficult to find US employees with the skills needed. School drop outs are a tax burden and at
higher risk of being involved in crime.
Even the Armed Services are suffering, as one-third of high school
graduates who are eligible to apply score too low on Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery to apply. The result is
a stark irony. While politicians rail
against immigrants as a burden on public finance, a source of crime and a
general detriment to US society, the reality is just the opposite.
Reforming the US educational system could spark a race to
the top in US society. By better
educating the young people born in the US, they would not be forced to compete
with immigrants from less fortunate countries where the educational system is
weak. A strong educational system would
not only allow the native workforce to be more dynamic and upwardly mobile, but
could serve to integrate future generations of immigrant children. Instead of racing to the bottom by cutting
costs and squeezing budgets or building bureaucratic barriers and physical fences
to ward off global competition, the United States should do everything is its
power to prepare its society by providing the best education available.
