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rtl49 | 10 years ago

Ordinary people in the US benefit economically because of their citizenship. Many of these people possess few skills and would live in abject poverty doing the same work in other countries. Admitting large numbers of low-skilled workers increases the supply of laborers, with the result that competition for employment increases, and wages decline. Even with a minimum wage, the number of employment opportunities is reduced. Thus, ordinary citizens stand to experience a decline in their quality of life.

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ocb|10 years ago

That's very simplistic analysis. The impact of immigration on the wages of native-born workers, even low-skilled ones, is definitely not a settled question [1].

[1] http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/06/01/does-immigration-s...

rtl49|10 years ago

It's simplistic because of the format. Its intention is to explain the general line of reasoning to the person who asked for it, not provide an exhaustive analysis.

The article you've cited addresses immigration in general, not low-skill immigration by itself. This could support argument in favor of a selective immigration policy, not massive immigration of low-skill workers from developing countries.