IMMIGRANTS AND UNEMPLOYMENT

With Labor Day approaching and many of our families hurting as a result of the recession, misconceptions coupled with feelings of frustration lead some people to want to blame recent immigrants for taking jobs from unemployed citizens. A question asked by many who support Comprehensive Immigration Reform is "How do I debunk the myth that the immigration issue correlates with unemployment, or job loss, in an area?" The Immigration Policy Center just recently completed a three-part report addressing this issue. http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/images/File/specialreport/Part%203%20-%20Unemployed%20Natives%2008-17-09.pdf

The study finds that "there is little apparent relationship between recent immigration and unemployment rates at the regional, state, or county level." By comparing unemployment rates in communities with both more and less immigrant populations, the study finds absolutely no relationship between the two. The fact that a community or state has large presence of immigrant families does not in turn mean that such a community or state has a higher unemployment rate. New York State has 8.2% of their population defined as recent immigrants and yields an unemployment rate of 7.8%. However, states like Maine and Mississippi both have higher unemployment rates (Maine 8.1%; Mississippi 9.4%) while both still having less than 1% of their populations defined as recent immigrants. These examples illustrate the point made in the study.

The study finds that a correlation exists between the unemployment rates in rural areas compared to unemployment rates in metropolitan areas. Overall, counties across the nation that are considered metropolitan have an unemployment rate of only 8.3% while 5.4% of their populations are immigrants. In non-metropolitan counties or rural communities, whose immigrant population is only 1.3% of the total population, unemployment rates are 1.1% higher at 9.4%. The relationship between unemployment rates and communities can best be summed up as to whether the area is rural and has a manufacturer based economy or metropolitan and non-manufacturer based in nature. Immigrants, in fact are more prevalent in areas that offer more jobs and those jobs are found in cities.

When making arguments in defense of a sensible immigration policy, it is best to be well informed and gain a strong basic understanding of the issue. We are confronted everyday with misinformed "facts" and have to educate ourselves in order to best serve our countries needs. Studies such as these can go a long way towards dispelling the myths.