The impact of immigration on the African-American community

[phk]

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A paper written by Jeff Grogger, Gordon Hanson and the famous Labor Economist George Borjas describe the impacts of immigration on the African-American community.

Link: http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~GBorjas/Papers/Economica.pdf

[dead0man]

Are they trying to blame immigrants (read, Mexicans) because a black man can't keep a job or stay out of prison?

And after reading the first part of the article I see past govt funded studies on the exact same question have come up with their own crazy theories why black men can't keep a job or stay out of prison.  Minimum wage, social security, crack and changes in the wage structure are all guilty.  From the last paragraph in section 1.

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What needs to happen to fix the problem is a change in the black culture, but white people can't say that and black people that say it are either comedians or are labeled "Uncle Toms".  Education isn't valued in the community.  Fatherhood isn't respected.  This isn't the fault of Mexicans, Jews or Whitey.

Now don't get me wrong, I love black culture.  It has put a twist on the American Culture that makes us all the better.  Where would rock be without the blues?  Our food, our movies even our language has all benefited from african-american culture.

[opebo]

...why black men can't keep a job or stay out of prison.  Minimum wage, social security, crack and changes in the wage structure are all guilty. 

Racist, you think that the minimum wage caused black unemployment?  Or social security?  What on earth are you talking about?

[dead0man]

Those are the things previous studies done on the subject pointed to as reasons black men can't keep a job/stay out of prison, I was making fun of them, not promoting them.  I should have been more clear.

[phk]

Are they trying to blame immigrants (read, Mexicans) because a black man can't keep a job or stay out of prison?

Nope. They just established an econometric relationship. Where every 10%-induced rate of immigration should reduce the black wage of that group by 2.5 percent, lower the employment rate by 5.9 percentage points, and increase incarceration rate by 1.3 percentage points. Though there could be omitted variable bias in the regression, which I doubt, but it would be meaningful to see what potential variables could affect it and re-run the regression. They do mention White male statistics also got worse, but not as sharply. This could largely mean that there are a higher % of Blacks considered low-skilled.

Though I could see it as somewhat true though, immigration would shift the supply curve for low-skilled labor outward reducing the equilibrium wage (putting downward pressure) though it is somewhat sticky heading downward and the decrease in wages would lead some to drop out of the labor force (assuming you're heading downward on the labor supply curve and the substitution effect is taking place) and once you're out you will have more time to be put in jail.

There was another paper famous in Labor Economics authored by Card and Krueger and found that the Mariel Boatlift actually reduced Black unemployment in Miami over the long run, though this was found using the Differences-In-Differences method.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

12% of recent CS majors are black, but many employers would rather hire some H-1B than an American.

[phk]

12% of recent CS majors are black, but many employers would rather hire some H-1B than an American.

CS has long been the abode of Asians and H1-B's are not considered immigrants.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

and what about African-American immigrants?

[phk]

and what about African-American immigrants?

Wouldn't have had much of an effect. They are only <0.2% of the pop and immigrants from Africa are not considered "Afro-American" in a traditional sense as they may include Arabs/Berbers and Whites.

[CARLHAYDEN]

This is an extremely complicated matter, as there are a large number of variables impacting the data.

There have been a number of studies done over the years looking at the impact in specific areas (the Los Angeles school janitors study for example) which does tend to support the contention that in areas with substantial illegal alien workers with minimal job skills, they can significantly and adversely impact the employment and compensation rates for black Americans will limited job skills.

Obviously, this is NOT the only factor, not should it be extrapolated to apply in areas with relatively small impacts of illegal aliens.

Further, many of the factors are dynamic, and their relationships with the other factors are NOT constant!

[MK]

Are they trying to blame immigrants (read, Mexicans) because a black man can't keep a job or stay out of prison?

And after reading the first part of the article I see past govt funded studies on the exact same question have come up with their own crazy theories why black men can't keep a job or stay out of prison.  Minimum wage, social security, crack and changes in the wage structure are all guilty.  From the last paragraph in section 1.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

What needs to happen to fix the problem is a change in the black culture, but white people can't say that and black people that say it are either comedians or are labeled "Uncle Toms".  Education isn't valued in the community.  Fatherhood isn't respected.  This isn't the fault of Mexicans, Jews or Whitey.

Now don't get me wrong, I love black culture.  It has put a twist on the American Culture that makes us all the better.  Where would rock be without the blues?  Our food, our movies even our language has all benefited from african-american culture.

It all starts with the economics.