The High Cost Of Cheap Labor
Richard D. Lamm
It is easy to see why illegal immigrants are attractive to employers. These are generally good, hard working people who will quietly accept minimum wage (or less), who don't generally get health or other benefits, and if they complain, they can be easily fired. For some employers it is an abused form of labor. Even minimum wage is attractive to workers from countries whose standard of living is a fraction of ours.
But it is not "cheap labor." It may be "cheap" to those who pay the wages, but for the rest of us it is clearly "subsidized" labor, as we taxpayers pick up the costs of education, health, and other municipal costs imposed by this workforce. That has become a substantial and growing cost as the nature of illegal immigration patterns has changed.
For decades, illegal immigrants were single men who would come up from Mexico or Central America alone, pick crops or perform other low paid physical labor and then go home. They were indeed "cheap labor." But starting in the 1960s, these workers either brought their families or smuggled them into the country later. They become a permanent or semi-permanent population living in the shadows but imposing immense municipal costs.
Illegal immigration today isn't "cheap" labor, except to the employer. To the rest of us it is "subsidized labor," where a few get the benefit and the rest of us pay. These costs ought to be obvious to all, but the myth of "cheap labor" and "jobs Americans won't do" persists.
It is hard to get an exact profile of the people who live in the underground economy, but the average family of illegal immigrants has 2 to 4 school-age kids. It costs U.S. taxpayers more than $7000 a child just to educate them in our public schools. Now no minimum wage workers, or even low wage workers, pay anywhere near enough in taxes to pay for even one child in school. Even if their parents were paying all federal and state taxes, Colorado's estimated 30,000 school-age children of workers illegally in the U.S. impose gargantuan costs on other taxpayers.
The dilemma is compounded by the fact that approximately 50 percent of illegal workers are paid in cash, off the books. Go to any construction site almost anywhere in America, and you will find workers paid cash wages. Virtually every city in America has an area where illegals gather and people come by to get "cheap" cash-wage labor.
The health care cost of this "cheap" workforce is also significant and subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. The total cost of this "subsidized" labor is impossible to ascertain and difficult to even estimate, but it is immense and growing as our population of these workers grows. A few benefit, many pay.
Americans pay in more ways than taxes. Cheap labor drives down wages as low income Americans are forced to compete against these admittedly hard working people. Even employers, who don't want to wink at false documents, are forced to lower wages just to be competitive. In many ways it is a "race to the bottom," fueled by poor people often recruited from evermore-distant countries by middlemen who profit handsomely.
Professor George Borjas of Harvard, an immigrant himself, estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market from newcomers.
Let me suggest that correctly analyzed, the fight against illegal immigration is both a liberal and conservative cause. There is no moral or legal justification for this abused form of labor.
Richard D. Lamm is Co-Director of the Institute for Public Policy Studies and a professor at the University of Denver. He is a member of the Board of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. He served three-terms as governor of Colorado, and is the past president of Zero Population Growth. . ________________________________________________________
I believe that all countries, in order to protect themselves, must set a policy of immigration and protect themselves, from others coming into it, in an illegal manner.
This is true for all countries not just the United States. So, basically he (Governor Lamm) is correct above, but he left out the main moving force that has brought about the problem and who benefits. The problem of illegal immigration has a long history here, and there are many aspects to it.
The US has supported and encouraged a system throughout Latin America, where a small wealthy elite have everything and the large "popular" classes are poor with few opportunities in education or jobs. The only requirement is that the small elite do as they are told, when it comes to business or policy. A small middle class evolved but it is now losing ground due mainly to US policies. The USA verbally promoted democracy, but in their actions they usually did the opposite and supported policies of a repressive "ruling class of elites" against any social progress or justice.
So in essence American policy was one of the prime forces to make and keep that system in place, to protect the "vital interests" of american corporations. For a long time, the US has pretty much told most of the countries in Latin America what to do, and how to do it. And they did it. Most of the time. The US replaced democracies quite frequently, with their own strong men, dictatorial candidates whenever a democracy of people emerged who didn't believe that the foriegn corporations and the local rich guy should own everything, All of the land, all of the money, all of the opportunities, etc., and all that was left was very low wages for long and hard work. And then, for many, it probably wasn't even enough to live on for a family. The USA played the major role in that system.
Secondly, politicians in the USA say one thing and really do another and the people do not catch on many times. Some politicians usually take the moral highground on many issues but in reality they set policy to do things that the people wouldn't like if they knew the truth. As to immigration, the people who have supported Big Business have been the ones who have allowed and encouraged the large influx of immigrants, both illegal and legal to enter into the USA. The reasons are obvious. To oversupply cheap labor to the marketplace so as to drive down wages and increase profits.
These are the same politicians who usually make the loudest noises publicly when making charges against those unamerican foriegners taking jobs from "real americans". Yup, that's the guy who usually helped bring it about, as I'm sure Lupo will agree with that statement. In the past those waves of immigrants, those "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses" were not encouraged to come here to bring them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It was to fill sweat shops with people who would work for starvation wages no matter what revised history they taught us in school. This time around they were just a little more sophisticated.
In american politics, don't follow the distracting verbal bull****, follow the actions and especially the money. Most people in the US have been so programed with propaganda and bull**** that we routinely vote against our own self interests most of our lives.
They get dazzled by side issues like, sexuality, morality, religion, false patriotism, greed, hate, envy, etc. etc.,. Many politicians play to all of the baser instincts and many fall for it every time.
Whether solving a murder, or who did what, in most situations, you have to determine who will benefit. That person or group is usually the prime mover, and usually not the ones who will lose, even thogh today they get the blame in a controlled press. Politicians in the USA are very slick, they routinely convince people of exactly the opposite of the reality on the ground. Most of the population who are decrying the immigrant situation, are also the same people who violently oppose unions which simply band together to promote worker interest. Let me make understanding politics easy for those who watch American Idol. If you own an international business like a major oil , (I'm not talking about puny minor stock holders) chemical, pharmacuetical company, etc (or a president) then vote for Big Business. If you don't own one of those things, then vote for candidates who are against Big Business and are for helping the "people" and... also stop listening to their bull****.
As for the social costs involved concerning illegal immigrants, that has become standard operating procedure in the USA. Every US taxpayer subsidizes Wallmart, Exxon-Mobil, and most big business in a big way. The best business plan today for Big Business is to pass on most of the costs involved of doing business to the taxpayer, while keeping the profit part for themselves. This is being done, in one manner or another in most areas of the economy. The people just aren't aware of it. We only see the things that are designed to distract us.
Also, I think that the immigration issue to be brought up at this time is mainly another distracting issue, to fan to a heat, so as to take our eyes off the ball, of what else is going on here right now.
That issue of illegal immigration has been around for about 60 years now, so why exactly do they bring it to the boiling point right now. Well, divide and conqure for one. If we all get to fighting against each other, who will be watching the government in these crucial times. Also just for the distraction value, they will flood the media, just to take the eye and heat off the government now.
Nothing makes the major news media unless someone powerful, somewhere wanted it to be so for their own reasons and certainly not just to keep us informed. If you think that "things happen" spontaneously you are very naive. There are more issues involved also. If you think that any issue is complicated and hard to understand, rest assured that we are up to our necks in bull**** from vested interests.
So, the immigration issue isn't so clear cut. It should be and would be, if the USA hadn't had our fingers in everyones pie for a very long time, which brought about this situation, to basically benefit Big Business interests.
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