Studies show immigrants help the economy, but may limit wages of the lowest-paid workers

One of the most common arguments for tighter control of immigration is that immigrants take American jobs, but a growing body of research reveals that is likely not so. "Study after study has shown that immigrants grow the economy, expanding demand for goods and services that the foreign-born workers and their families consume, and thereby creating jobs," Viveca Novak of FactCheck.org reports. "There is even broad agreement among economists that while immigrants may push down wages for some, the overall effect is to increase average wages for American-born workers."

The Harper’s Index in this month's Harper's magazine cites Giovanni Peri of the University of California-Davis in reporting that for every 1-percentage point increase in foreign-born workers in the U.S. labor force, the nation's average wage goes up 0.5 percent.

Nevertheless, groups like the House of Representatives Reclaim American Jobs Caucus argue that with 8 million illegal immigrants working in the U.S. and 15 million unemployed American citizens and legal immigrants, the country could cut unemployment in half by removing illegal workers. "The numbers are simple," California Republican Rep. Gary Miller, a member of the caucus, said in the video announcing the group's formation. An advertisement from the Coalition for the Future American Worker even advocates limiting legal immigration to counter job loss. Upon further review though, the math is anything but simple, Novak writes.

The prevailing results of research examining the economic impact of immigrants was summed up by David Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, in a recent article for the magazine Commentary: "The addition of low-skilled immigrants expands the size of the overall economy, creating higher-wage openings for managers, craftsmen, accountants, and the like," he wrote. "The net result is a greater financial reward and relatively more opportunities for those Americans who finish high school." Griswold does acknowledge that "low-skilled immigrants do exert mild downward pressure on the wages of the lowest-paid American workers," though the overall impact on jobs and the economy is positive. (Read more)