A common talking point of immigration advocates is that we simply don’t have enough Americans available to meet our employment needs. What they don’t mention is that we have a large and growing number of U.S. natives who potentially could fill jobs.
These are people of working age who are not in the labor force. They are not counted as unemployed because they have not looked for work within the past four months.
In 1960 the share of working-age U.S. men (16 to 64) not working was 11 percent. By the year 2000 it had risen to 17 percent, and now it stands 24 percent. Among men of “prime” working age (25 to 54), the percentages were 4 percent in 1960, 9 percent in 2000, and 12 percent today.
These men are not working for a number of different reasons. Among them is a low-wage job market, which to a significant extent is caused by mass immigration. In that situation, many prefer to subsist on public assistance, or support from family members.
A spokesman for the Center for Immigration Studies observes that “Relying on immigrant workers has allowed our country to ignore the decades-long decline in labor force participation. Reducing immigration would cause wages to rise, incentivizing work and compelling policymakers to undertake much-needed reforms in welfare and disability programs.”
Read more at cis.org