argument top image

Should countries accept immigrants?
Back to question

Immigrants increase competition for work

Immigrants take jobs from local people. Many immigrants will work for less than native workers, and the extra competition they create lowers wages.
< (3 of 3)

The Argument

An influx of laborers creates lower wages and a lack of jobs. This increased competition suppresses wages, and migrant workers are frequently willing to work for less than native workers. Employers frequently make Pro-immigration arguments rather than employees. Large corporations benefit from a dip in wages that an influx of workers that their sector provides.[1] Immigrants make the majority of native people poorer by forcing them to compete for fewer jobs. In a world where many jobs are becoming automated, we cannot afford to increase the competition.[2] Low-income earners, who worked largely unskilled jobs, are particularly vulnerable to competition. People who already need a helping hand, such as high school dropouts and those who work in the services industry, are abandoned in favor of economic migrants. There is hard evidence in the US that wages for low-skilled jobs have gone down.[3] Halting immigration would protect the interest of local workers. Immigrants suppress wages, take jobs from native-born workers, and lower the quality of life of the already vulnerable.

Counter arguments

The belief that immigration undercuts wages is a misunderstanding of economics. People create jobs as well as fill them; there are not a set number of jobs which, when filled, will disappear. Foreign workers who move abroad often create businesses and stimulate the economy.[4] Immigrants do not tend to move to countries with unemployment; instead, they look for gaps in the labor market, such as the US agricultural sector. When an economy declines, economic migrants tend to leave. Some economists argue immigrants make most workers better off because they take on jobs natives do not want to do. By providing a steady supply of labor for agriculture and other low-skills jobs, they often help businesses and stimulate the economy. Many sectors, such as the restaurant industry, would be crippled by a shortage of immigrant labor.[5] Immigration does not hurt wages for most sectors. Immigrants provide an economic stimulus and often create news businesses.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Immigrants create surplus labor increasing competition for jobs. [P2] More labor lowers wages. [P3] Low-skilled workers are vulnerable to being replaced by migrants. [C] Immigration is harmful to many people's employment prospects and their wages.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Surplus labor acts as an economic stimulus.

References

  1. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/trump-clinton-immigration-economy-unemployment-jobs-214216
  2. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-why-no-one-ever-makes-the-economic-case-for-mass-immigration
  3. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/does-immigration-harm-working-americans/384060/
  4. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/value-added-immigrants-create-jobs-and-businesses-boost-wages-native-born-workers
  5. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/jobs/2012/05/04/what-immigration-means-for-u-s-employment-and-wages/
This page was last edited on Monday, 30 Nov 2020 at 12:25 UTC

Explore related arguments