Three Reasons Why Immigrants Aren ’t Going to Take Your Job

Alex NowrastehPresident Trump recently said that there weretwo reasons for virtually halting all immigration to the United States in response to COVID-19. The first was to prevent the spread of the disease domestically.The second was to save American jobs for American citizens. We ’ve alreadyanalyzedthefirst claim, this post will look at whether reducing immigration further will help save jobs for Americans. The answer is no.Unemployment isspiking during theCOVID-19 crisis. Americans are reacting to the virus by changing their economic behavior by working at home where possible,spending less time in dense public places, and in numerous other ways that result in less economic activity – sometimes voluntarily and sometimes in response to government shelter in place orders. As a result, employment is falling. In this situation, many pundits arearguing that further restricting immigration will preserve jobs for American citizens. Further restrictions will have no such impact.I ’vewrittenmuchabouttheeconomiceffectsofimmigrationbefore, but here are some big takeaway points related to the recent immigration ban:First, immigrants come to the United States primarily because of economic opportunity. Even those coming today on green cards intended for family ‐​reunification are primarily coming to reunite with family members who, at one point in the chain, came for economic reasons. If the benefits of coming to the United States are greater than the costs (psychological c...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs