Job ‘Gains’ Are for Migrants as U.S. Men Kept Out of Workforce

David Goldman

The alleged wonderful jobs gains that Democrats and especially the Biden administration have touted only helped immigrants, many of whom are illegals. Meanwhile U.S.-born men who don’t have college degrees are struggling to find jobs in Biden’s economy.

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Now, jobs should go to the person most qualified, so it’s not wrong for businesses to hire legal immigrants. Many legal immigrants contribute significantly to the economy. On the other hand, the New York Post estimated that, with six out of ten of the 2.9 million additional employed migrants being non-citizens, up to half of the migrants taking millions of jobs are likely illegal aliens. These illegal aliens should not be in the country at all, yet they are taking jobs that could go to Americans while simultaneously sucking up government resources. That’s a problem, which unfortunately Democrats and some Republicans are wholly uninterested in addressing.

“There are enormous costs associated with illegal immigration,” New York Post explained. “Most illegal immigrants have low levels of education, and people with that skill profile generally earn modest wages, pay relatively little in taxes, and consume a lot of means-tested benefits.” But what they also do is take lower-wage jobs that ought to go to American citizens, the outlet added.

One of the most serious social problems we face as a country is the decades-long decline in the labor force participation of US-born men … Today, the labor force participation rate of US-born men without a bachelor’s (ages 18 to 64) stands at 75.6% — still below the 76.3% rate it was in the fourth quarter of 2019.

And both those figures are far below the 80.6% rate in 2006 and 82.6% in 2000.

If you go back a few decades more to the 1960s, almost 90% of these American men participated in the workforce.

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And, just as a reminder, labor force participation includes only those employed or looking for work, while the unemployment rate is calculated based only on those looking for work in the last four weeks before the unemployment rate was estimated. That means there are many more American men who are unemployed.

This decline matters because the list of negative outcomes for individuals, their families, and society associated with being out of the labor force is extreme. Not working is linked with higher rates of crime and social isolation, as well as so-called “deaths of despair,” including suicide, drug overdose and alcoholism.

Yes, welfare and disability programs and other forces do influence whether Americans try to enter the workforce, the New York Post noted. But the fact that all those job gains are helping immigrants, including many illegals, and not U.S.-born men tells us that the Democrats’ open borders policies are helpful for immigrants but harmful for American citizens. As usual, the Biden administration’s policies favor foreign law-breakers and undermine citizens.

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