Ezra points to a New York Times chart from a few years ago that demonstrates that average median hourly wages for high school drop outs -- the demographic most likely to compete with immigrants for jobs -- don't seem to be driven down by higher immigration rates. States with higher percentages of undocumented immigrants like Nevada and California actually have higher median hourly incomes when compared to states like Kentucky, which has a less than 1 percent immigrant population. This data is reinforced pretty squarely by a report issued last month by the conservative group America's Majority. Their study of all 50 states and D.C. found a high resident population and/or inflow of immigrants is correlated with elevated levels and growth rates in every category -- gross state product, personal income, disposable income, and median household income, both in general and on a per capita basis.
In 1999, high immigration jurisdictions (HIJs) had higher rates of unemployment, individual poverty, and total crime than other states. In subsequent years, trends in each of these categories favored HIJs, compared to the other jurisdictions. By 2006, high immigration jurisdictions had lower rates of unemployment, individual poverty and total crime than other states.
What both these reports illustrate is the illegitimacy of claims that immigration concerns are chiefly economic. By most accounts -- even some conservative accounts -- illegal immigration has very little effect on the wages of of low income workers and a positive net impact in states with higher immigrant populations.
--Kate Sheppard
