Research on the Economic Impacts of Illegal Immigration

We've all heard the things that people are saying about illegal immigration. "They're taking our jobs." "They drive up education, healthcare and criminal justice costs."

If those statements are true, why are employers still hiring them and why haven't the U.S. government and U.S. industries taken up the cause of paying better wages south of our border in order to reduce the economic stress of illegal immigration? Shouldn't U.S. industries paying better wages in southern Mexico and Central America reduce the amount of illegal immigration?

An independent thinktank if Palto Alto has done some research into the subject and has concluded that the overall impact of immigration (legal and illegal) has been a net gain to the nation's economy, although it produces net fiscal costs on the State of California.

Excerpt from L.A. Times article:

"The study focuses largely on the California economy since 1990. The date is significant because it marks the beginning of the illegal immigration flood tide; just over half the state's legal immigrants arrived before 1990, but about 86% of the 2.4 million illegal immigrants living in the state today have arrived since then. (They're currently arriving at a net rate of 75,000 to 100,000 a year, mostly from Mexico and other Latin American countries.)

"The researchers looked at several economic trends in that period. They found that California unemployment, which was as much as 3% higher than the national rate during and after the recession of the early 1990s, largely closed the gap after 1994. By this year, it was nearly identical to its rate in 1990.

"Average wage levels in the state, in contrast with those in the nation, have soared. In 1990, the report says, the average wage was 10.9% above the national average. By 2004 it had moved to 13.4% above the average. Meanwhile, job growth has remained strong — exceeding the national rate from 1994 to 2000 and pacing it since then.

"Clearly, California has remained an impressive economic engine throughout the period of heavy illegal immigration. It's worth noting that the period includes two major economic setbacks — the aerospace-driven recession of the early 1990s in Southern California and the 2000 tech bust in the Bay Area — without which California might well have had the rest of the country eating its economic dust. Of course, neither bust can be remotely traceable to immigration."