:: rawblogXport ::

:: Monday, January 26, 2004 ::

Do Immigrants Really Take Jobs That Americans Won't Do? BY KATHERINE REYNOLDS LEWIS
True or false: Many foreign-born workers come to the United States for jobs that Americans don't want.

This argument in favor of immigration surfaces again and again, most recently in debate over President Bush's new plan to allow more temporary foreign workers. Without immigrants, it goes, there would be nobody to slaughter cattle, work in the fields, put up drywall or clean bathrooms.

But under standard economic theory, there's no such thing as a labor shortage, merely a shortage at the wage being offered, said Jeffrey Passel, a demographer at the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank that favors immigration. Without immigrants, American companies would have to offer higher pay to attract prospective employees, Passel and others say.

Skilled worker shortage shows in Sits Vacant ads National Business Review
ANZ's New Zealand Chief Economist David Drage said the numbers show a continuing supply problem in the labour market.

'It appears that the strength of the labor market has prompted employers to continue advertising in December at higher levels than has historically been the norm,' he said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion showed businesses in all sectors were having difficulty finding both skilled and unskilled workers and said pressure was building to drive wages up.

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