The Washington Post reports that "business groups paint a dire picture of a U.S. economy without the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. The National Restaurant Association says that jobs in food service are growing one and a half times as fast as the U.S. labor force. And the construction industry needs 250,000 new workers per year to replace its aging workforce, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors." Back in the old days, economsts associated increased labor demand with rising wages. Since one of the country's biggest problems is the growing gap in wages between people with college and advanced degrees and people without college degrees, it's hard to see why we should consider what the industry groups are describing as a "dire picture." It sounds pretty good to me. [Just to be clear, it is outrageous to deport immigrants that worked in the United States with the full knowledge and consent of the government -- even if it was technically in violation of the law.]
--Dean Baker
