bobbyw24
04-18-2010, 01:48 PM
The Real Story of Americans' Immigration Views
By David Paul Kuhn
Americans support legal immigration and oppose illegal immigration.
But another picture often emerges from the chattering class. Americans' opposition to illegal immigration is wrongly described as opposition to immigration itself.
Immigration is America's most contentious of unresolved issues. The public remains divided over aspects of the issue. They do, however, understand the issue. Yet all too often Americans' fairly sophisticated view of immigration is simplified. And that simplification tends to skew the facts.
Friday's New York Times exemplified the problem. The nation's premier newspaper reported on a new immigration study. "In 14 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas," the story read, "more immigrants are employed in white-collar occupations than in lower-wage work like construction, manufacturing or cleaning.
"The data belie a common perception in the nation's hard-fought debate over immigration -- articulated by lawmakers, pundits and advocates on all sides of the issue -- that the surge in immigration in the last two decades has overwhelmed the United States with low-wage foreign laborers," the Times continued.
But the study's findings actually substantiate those "common perceptions."
The public perceives illegal immigrants as significantly more likely to be "low-wage foreign laborers" and add to the ranks of those relying on public and private social services. However, cherry pick the facts and another conclusion could be reached.
"Overall, 48 percent of immigrants work in white-collar jobs-managerial, professional, sales, and administrative support. By comparison, 52 percent work in service, blue-collar, or farming, fishing and forestry jobs," according to the nonpartisan Fiscal Policy Institute study, commissioned by the Times. This is the picture that emerges from all 25 cities studied.
The Times conflates views on legal and illegal immigrants. The issue is not what it reports, but what the Times does not.
Only about one in 10 illegal immigrants work in white-collar professions, the study concluded.
"There is no doubt that undocumented workers are much more likely to be in lower skilled jobs and much more likely to have less education," said David Kallick, the principal author of immigration analysis. The authoritative 2009 Pew Hispanic Center study -- that Kallick's analysis relied upon to track unauthorized immigrants' employment -- sheds more light on the gap between legal and illegal immigrants.
Pew found that 35 percent of legal immigrants have at least a bachelor's degree, three points above the level for the U.S.-born workforce. By comparison, less than half as many illegal immigrants, 15 percent, have a bachelor's degree.
The differences between legal and illegal immigrants are inseparable from how Americans view the two. In 2007, with Washington debating immigration reform, polling organizations looked more deeply into the issue. An ABC News poll asked if illegal immigrants help or hurt the country. It asked the same question about legal immigrants. A majority of Americans, 54 percent, said illegal immigrants "do more to hurt the country." Yet 59 percent said legal immigrants "do more to help the country."
The same trend is visible in key swing states like Ohio. About two-thirds of Ohioans said illegal immigrants "hurt the country" while nearly three-quarters believe legal immigrants "help the country," according to a Quinnipiac poll in 2007.
The "why" behind this legality fault line is more complicated. Americans' concern about legal status is intractable from the correlated issues.
It's not generally a matter of job competition. At least a majority, 56 percent, believe that illegal immigrants "mostly take jobs that nobody wants," according to a 2007 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll. Other polls show more than two-thirds share this view.
There is however an absence of detailed data on the Great Recession's impact on the jobs issue. At least two-thirds of all job losses in the recession are among blue collar workers. And as studies indicate, most illegal immigrants are blue collar.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/04/18/the_real_story_of_americans_immigration_views__105 217.html
By David Paul Kuhn
Americans support legal immigration and oppose illegal immigration.
But another picture often emerges from the chattering class. Americans' opposition to illegal immigration is wrongly described as opposition to immigration itself.
Immigration is America's most contentious of unresolved issues. The public remains divided over aspects of the issue. They do, however, understand the issue. Yet all too often Americans' fairly sophisticated view of immigration is simplified. And that simplification tends to skew the facts.
Friday's New York Times exemplified the problem. The nation's premier newspaper reported on a new immigration study. "In 14 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas," the story read, "more immigrants are employed in white-collar occupations than in lower-wage work like construction, manufacturing or cleaning.
"The data belie a common perception in the nation's hard-fought debate over immigration -- articulated by lawmakers, pundits and advocates on all sides of the issue -- that the surge in immigration in the last two decades has overwhelmed the United States with low-wage foreign laborers," the Times continued.
But the study's findings actually substantiate those "common perceptions."
The public perceives illegal immigrants as significantly more likely to be "low-wage foreign laborers" and add to the ranks of those relying on public and private social services. However, cherry pick the facts and another conclusion could be reached.
"Overall, 48 percent of immigrants work in white-collar jobs-managerial, professional, sales, and administrative support. By comparison, 52 percent work in service, blue-collar, or farming, fishing and forestry jobs," according to the nonpartisan Fiscal Policy Institute study, commissioned by the Times. This is the picture that emerges from all 25 cities studied.
The Times conflates views on legal and illegal immigrants. The issue is not what it reports, but what the Times does not.
Only about one in 10 illegal immigrants work in white-collar professions, the study concluded.
"There is no doubt that undocumented workers are much more likely to be in lower skilled jobs and much more likely to have less education," said David Kallick, the principal author of immigration analysis. The authoritative 2009 Pew Hispanic Center study -- that Kallick's analysis relied upon to track unauthorized immigrants' employment -- sheds more light on the gap between legal and illegal immigrants.
Pew found that 35 percent of legal immigrants have at least a bachelor's degree, three points above the level for the U.S.-born workforce. By comparison, less than half as many illegal immigrants, 15 percent, have a bachelor's degree.
The differences between legal and illegal immigrants are inseparable from how Americans view the two. In 2007, with Washington debating immigration reform, polling organizations looked more deeply into the issue. An ABC News poll asked if illegal immigrants help or hurt the country. It asked the same question about legal immigrants. A majority of Americans, 54 percent, said illegal immigrants "do more to hurt the country." Yet 59 percent said legal immigrants "do more to help the country."
The same trend is visible in key swing states like Ohio. About two-thirds of Ohioans said illegal immigrants "hurt the country" while nearly three-quarters believe legal immigrants "help the country," according to a Quinnipiac poll in 2007.
The "why" behind this legality fault line is more complicated. Americans' concern about legal status is intractable from the correlated issues.
It's not generally a matter of job competition. At least a majority, 56 percent, believe that illegal immigrants "mostly take jobs that nobody wants," according to a 2007 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll. Other polls show more than two-thirds share this view.
There is however an absence of detailed data on the Great Recession's impact on the jobs issue. At least two-thirds of all job losses in the recession are among blue collar workers. And as studies indicate, most illegal immigrants are blue collar.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/04/18/the_real_story_of_americans_immigration_views__105 217.html