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Washington, D.C. (May 12, 2022) – Today on Parsing Immigration Policy, the Center responds to the argument by many supporters of high levels of immigration that an expansion of immigration would reduce inflation, which is close to a 40-year high. They argue that admitting more foreign workers to fill jobs would decrease wages and lower consumer prices. The Center’s analysis shows that the foreign workers would be filling jobs typically performed by the less-educated, such as food service, healthcare support, hospitality, and trucking. Reducing wages for the less-educated is not an effective means of controlling inflation because such workers earn relatively little and as a result account for only a modest share of economic output.
Dr. Steven Camarota, the Center’s director of research, voices concern for the impact such a plan would have on the economic prospects of working-class Americans who have seen little to no wage growth for decades. Lowering wages for the lowest-paid workers will also impact taxpayers if these workers would then qualify for some of the country’s welfare programs.
In his closing commentary, Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and host of Parsing Immigration Policy, discusses Secretary Mayorkas's appearance before the Senate Homeland Security Governmental Affairs Committee. While it lacked the drama of the House committee hearings, it revealed that the Biden administration is no longer trying to deter illegal migrants, making it the first administration to have such a policy.
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