A new report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy argues that if undocumented immigrants are given legal status and amnesty, it would make the U.S. job market better.
Around 12 million people, a quarter of all immigrants in the U.S., are undocumented immigrants. They work a lot in the U.S. economy, but because they don’t have legal status, they don’t get paid as much.
The report looked at surveys to see how much money documented and undocumented immigrants make. The results showed that if there was a big program to give legal status to undocumented immigrants, their pay would go up, especially for women.
Granting status
“Legal and undocumented immigrants tend to work in different occupations, even taking into account differences in characteristics such as education level and English language ability,” the authors explain. “This is especially true for female undocumented immigrants, who are much less likely than similar-looking but legal female immigrants to work in jobs that utilize high levels of analytical and interactive tasks.”
The study found that the hours worked by documented and undocumented men tended to be quite similar, but this wasn’t the case for women, where undocumented women worked longer hours. The authors believe that an amnesty would increase wages by 2 and 4% respectively for men and women.
The size of the undocumented labor market is obviously difficult to gage with certainty, but the authors believe that amnesty could see the total labor income rise by around $14 billion per year, which would provide a significant boost to the American economy.
“Improvements in undocumented immigrant earnings would mean more money spent on goods and services produced by both legal immigrant and nonimmigrant workers,” the authors explain. “Furthermore, amnesty would widen the scope of jobs available to undocumented immigrants—for example, by allowing them to acquire driver’s licenses and occupational licenses, helping employers in need of workers fill currently vacant positions.”
Immigration reform
A program like the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) from 1986 could help raise the wages and living conditions of people who are already working and contributing to the American economy. The IRCA gave legal status to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants. To qualify, they had to have been in the country before 1982, know some basic things about U.S. government, not have a criminal record, and be able to speak English.
The people who got legal status through the IRCA saw their wages go up significantly, mainly because they were now legal residents.
“Amnesty would likely lead to a modest—though not insignificant—improvement in the wages of currently undocumented immigrants,” the report concludes. “It is important that the improved economic performance of undocumented immigrants be considered by policymakers when debating the value of a large-scale immigrant amnesty.”
