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Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants? | by Illiad | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
| it seems to me... |
by basher20 |
2004-10-21 16:27:20 |
... that if you assume that the primary reason for illegal immigration is economic, i.e. better paying jobs, there will be a tension between minimum wages and illegal immigration.
If you were to allow businesses to legally pay true market wages for low skilled jobs, businesses would not need to resort to paying illegals off the books. This would create a level playing field for all workers regardless of nationality.
The problem is that as a society, the US has decided that the income produced at the market level for such jobs is unacceptably low. Therefore we make it illegal for busineses to pay free market wages, and create opportunity for immigrants, to whom sub-minimum wages are seen as an acceptable trade for their labor.
It's another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences whenever you try to place the price of something above what the market will bear.
There may very well be other benefits to living in the US beyond better wages (indeed I hope there are), and thus the value of immigrating becomes greater than the difference between prevailing wages in two countries. This factor is difficult to monetize, and thus is often overlooked in simple economic analyses. |
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[ Reply ] |
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(what, no diary?) | by Atrahasis | 2004-10-21 16:51:13 |
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Nope - no diary. | by themadkansan | 2004-10-21 16:55:17 |
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That's cool (: | by Atrahasis | 2004-10-21 17:02:33 |
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Different person(s), but similar situation. | by themadkansan | 2004-10-21 17:14:23 |
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Can you clarify? | by Atrahasis | 2004-10-21 17:21:39 |
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Not you. | by themadkansan | 2004-10-21 18:03:14 |
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It's ok to ask once. | by shorty82 | 2004-10-21 18:08:11 |
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