Here's a story on the effects of immigration on wages, from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "It is easy to find anecdotes and statistics to support the idea that competition from immigrants hurts some U.S.-born workers. But immigration's full effects on the economy are complicated, and the story unfolds differently depending on who's telling it. Colorado's wage statistics tell one tale. Pay in construction and hospitality, sectors known for relying heavily on immigrant labor, have not grown as quickly as pay in other areas, state Department of Labor and Employment figures show. Average construction wages rose 1.2 percent from 2001 to 2005, after adjusting for Denver-area inflation. Hotel, motel and restaurant pay increased 4.2 percent. Contrast that with the finance and health care industries, which saw inflation-adjusted gains of 6.3 percent and 8.9 percent. Although there is no consensus, many economists agree that if anyone is harmed, it is the low-skilled, poorly educated native. George Borjas and Lawrence Katz of Harvard University looked at 20 years of immigration starting in 1980 and found that a high school dropout who made $25,000 in 2000 would have seen his inflation-adjusted wages reduced by about $1,200, or 4.8 percent. Others see a negligible dip and an actual wage gain for the more educated. Immigration also is seen as one of the culprits in widening the gulf between the wages of workers with skills and those without...
"Illegal immigrants - estimated by the Pew Hispanic Center at 225,000 to 275,000 in Colorado - also pay taxes. One Colorado study suggests that those taxes aren't enough to offset the total cost of services, such as K-12 education, emergency medical care and jail time. Others argue that immigrants do not compete with natives. Rather, they perform work Americans avoid, playing a complementary role that spurs the economy. Any way the issue is examined, immigration is probably not the biggest problem facing America's least fortunate workers. And some observers believe the enforcement of immigration laws is a more important matter than the economic impact...
"Jim Gleason, of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in Colorado, estimated 60 percent of people in carpentry, drywall and concrete framing are immigrants, and a large percentage of them - possibly half - are in the state illegally. Wages in his industry, he said, have suffered as employers face pressure to keep costs low and turn to cheaper nonunion labor and illegal immigrants. And wages, he said, do not tell the whole story because an increase in pay may come at the expense of benefits...
"What: U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., will hold a Senate field hearing on the potential economic impacts of national immigration legislation on state and local governments, 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aurora City Council Chambers, 1515 E. Alameda Parkway, Aurora."
"2008 pres"
7:38:25 AM 
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