". . .that the right & the obligation to work is one that's shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here, regardless of status, I would prefer that they be participating in the workplace than not participating in the workplace." - BO's Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch speaking @ a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28.
"Do they have the right to work? They should not be in this country illegally." – Senator John McCain responding to Lynch's above statement.
click on graph to enlargeDespite 257,000 people finding employment in January the government's headline U-3 unemployment rate increased from 5.6% to 5.7% – but this increase was mostly due to the arithmetic involved because previously discouraged workers who had dropped out of the labor force returned. This indicates once again that a more thorough analysis than just reporting one number is needed to understand the unemployment picture in the U.S.
Highlights from the Department Of Labor - Bureau Of Labor Statistics (BLS) report for January were 1) the broadest measure of underemployment, U-6, increased from 11.2% to 11.3% in January & 2) the people listed as multiple jobholders, representing 5% of those employed, increased by 604,000 (year to year) – an indication of more people trying to make short ends meet & the growing affect of ObamaCare's rules defining full time employment & eligibility for employer paid healthcare insurance as 30-hour workweeks. In essence people need income from more than one of these types of jobs to live on.
So the stagnate depressed incomes & underemployment continues with many people in their fifties realizing they will never work again as BO's world cruelly passes them by – these are the people who will be tempted to take reduced Social Security benefits when they turn 62 thereby leaving them with possibly 20 to 30 years of inferior cash inflows when they will surely need money & medical care the most.
But Karen Ziegler & Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) recently revealed the most disheartening part of the last few unemployment reports by showing that all net new jobs since the start of the Great Recession have gone to workers classified as foreign born (i.e., immigrants – legal & illegal). See graph above & the CIS study entitled "Despite Recent Job Growth, Native Employment Still Below 2007 - BLS data show all net employment growth has gone to immigrants."
The CIS study provided the data below from November 2007, the month before the Great Recession began, through November 2014. I provide the data for January 2015 from the BLS table A-7 pertaining to the Household Survey. All figures are in thousands. LF means Labor Force.
Employment Status of the Civilian Population by Nativity
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Native-Born 16-Plus Immigrants 16-Plus
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Population Employed Unemployed Not in the LF Population Employed Unemployed Not in the LF
Nov-07 197,775 124,014 5,837 67,924 35,164 23,104 1,080 10,980
Nov-08 199,401 122,326 8,454 68,621 35,427 22,283 1,561 11,583
Nov-09 200,787 117,041 12,148 71,598 35,956 22,091 2,259 11,606
Nov-10 202,365 117,029 11,881 73,455 36,350 22,387 2,401 11,562
Nov-11 203,735 118,439 10,548 74,748 36,705 22,631 2,065 12,009
Nov-12 206,069 120,277 9,459 76,333 38,105 23,272 1,945 12,888
Nov-13 207,830 120,814 8,653 78,363 38,737 23,961 1,618 13,158
Nov-14 208,817 122,558 7,202 79,056 40,027 25,108 1,428 13,491
Jan-15 209,756 121,999 7,978 79,780 39,967 24,553 1,520 13,894
Highlights of data from the above table: 1) between November 2007 & November 2014 there was an increase of two million adult (16+) immigrants (legal & illegal) working while during the same time there was a decrease of 1.46 million native-born people employed, 2) although all of the employment growth has gone to immigrants, natives accounted for 69 percent of the growth in the adult population from 2007 to 2014, 3) 45 percent of employment growth has gone to immigrants the last two years (November 2012 to November 2014), though immigrants comprise only 17 percent of the labor force, 4) the number of natives not in the labor force (neither working nor looking for work) continues to grow, & 5) the number of adult natives not in the labor force actually increased by 693,000 over the last year, November 2013 to November of 2014 & increased by 11.1 million from November 2007 to November 2014.
Dr. Camarota points out that the immigrant workers listed in the above table covers the entire spectrum from janitors to executives so it is not just those doing jobs Americans don't want to do that are becoming employed.
In total there were 79.8 million adult natives and 13.9 million adult immigrants who were not in the labor force in January 2015 & an additional 9.5 million immigrant & native adults who were officially unemployed so there is no labor shortage in America.
On June 27, 2013 sixty-eight senators (including 14 Republicans) passed S.744 – the Senate's 1,200 page immigration reform bill written principally by New York's Senator Chuck Schumer working in close direct coordination with BO's staff including former La Raza senior vice president Cecilia Munoz. S.744 will allow 33 million foreign citizens lifetime work permits over the next ten years. Source – Roy Beck, NumbersUSA. The Senate bill did not become law when it was stalled in the House in 2013 but many politicians still talk about it & would like to bring it back.
It falls into BO's overall plan to fundamentally change America for the worst that he would promote such a bill as S.744 & would nominate someone to be Attorney General (see above quote) who sees nothing wrong with ignoring the immigration laws & accordingly sees nothing wrong with the data in the above table.
The biggest mistake in every Republican immigration control plan I have ever heard is that they always start with "secure our borders." No - the first point is to determine if we want illegal immigrants in America or not – are we better off with them here? Starting with "secure our borders" takes for granted that all eleven million people in the country illegally are here to stay one way or another which is exactly what BO & the Democrats want.
The employment information in this post provides information to help you decide – as a starting point.
Reference Posts:
Doug- great analysis! US immigration policy is one definite root cause behind the only post WW2 recovery with negative real median income growth in addition to negative net jobs growth for citizens. Those most impacted are from lower and middle income classes. Majority of them voted for BO twice. High time these citizens learn that Hard Left politicians are not their friends.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the finest breakdowns of the labor force as it stands now, very scary. You have put countless hours of work into this, and made the true picture apparent even for someone who is not a great chart reader!. Thank you, Doug.
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