Friday, May 22, 2009

Pro-immigration group's study contends immigrants don't impact unemployment

The Center for Immigration Policy has released a study comparing unemployment with immigration rates and does not find that they have anything to do with each other. - - Donna Poisl

State economist questions study's methods, but agrees with some conclusions

By Sheena Mcfarland, The Salt Lake Tribune

Contrary to conventional wisdom -- and anti-illegal immigration rhetoric -- immigration rates have no direct effect on unemployment rates, according to a study released Tuesday.

The study was conducted by the Center for Immigration Policy, the research arm of the pro-immigration American Immigration Law Foundation. It compared rates of unemployment with immigration rates in states across the nation, and found no direct correlation.

"The level of unemployment in the U.S. is painful, sometimes scary and very difficult for those directly impacted," said Dan Siciliano, executive director of the Program in Law, Economics and Business at Stanford Law School and a research fellow for the Washington, D.C.-based center. "But the notion that immigration is causally related to unemployment belittles and questions the challenges of unemployment."
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.

2 comments:

Mike Frizzi said...

I would argue that immigration rates, in some cases, DO have an impact on unemployment rates - for the positive. As I have mentioned here before, the eb5 green card has been handed out in record numbers recently, and all of the4se visas bring new jobs to the American economy...Just shining a light on the positive!

Horace Jones said...

While I do support the rights of immigrants, and believe that everyone should have a fair shot, this seems like a study that immigration opposition would have to doubt. Because was the goal of the study to find impartial scientific data and identify trends? What if this data went against the organization's mission? I do although agree wholeheartedly with mikefrizzi that teh eb5 green card creates orders of magnitude more jobs than it "uses up."