Wajiha El
Rabaa
Miss Dania
Adra
English 203
20 October,
2015
This text, written by Lydia
DePillis, defends the idea that, unlike what one may think, immigration [to the
US] does not have negative effect on employment of natives, it even helps
American workers… First, and as I said, this idea is completely against common
sense. We all know that immigrants are preferred by employers mainly because
they work at low wage, and thus leave the natives without work. DePillis argues
that, unlike natives, “immigrants take jobs that might be below their skill
levels” because they have to make money, and thus, take positions that “may not
have gone to native workers anyway” because of the low skill level required. She
also says that “Immigrants don’t always have access to the same jobs as native
workers”, that immigrants’ work and natives’ work don’t overlap... The problem
is that she is omitting the fact that in every economy, the labor force (of
natives) is constituted of many parts, that is all the people in the labor
force don’t have the same skills level. So the natives may cover every kind of
job and the immigration would then inevitably affect natives… Also, her
assumption is that immigrants necessarily take jobs that need less skills, that
are less good than the jobs natives take. In reality, natives can have medium
(not very high) skill levels and then want to occupy the jobs migrants are
given because they accept low wages, as well as migrants might be educated and
then apply for good jobs that they then take from natives (again because they
agree to work for low wages). In both cases, immigration deeply affects natives‘
employment. Immigrants, as well as natives, might have any skill level. You can’t
just say that well, immigrants will work here and natives here and everyone is
happy. Then, DePillis argues that “labor markets adapt”. She means that as more
workers are available (from immigration), businesses can expand and grow, and
new businesses can start, which would be good for the economy… The fact is that
in most cases, businesses don’t adapt fast enough to avoid the rise in unemployment…
And it usually rises from the natives’ side.
Realizing that she is tackling an
idea that is deeply rooted in people’s minds, DePillis starts her text by
recognizing this fact. In her attempt to convince people, she draws a clear outline
of her argument ; after the brief introduction of the subject, she presents her
“main reasons” that she hopes will persuade her readers. To be more convincing,
she quotes other sources in her text: “German economic research institute IZA”
that analysed “dozens of studies in different countries over the past decade”
and “Amelie Constant, whose report focused on employment” and “Giovanni Peri,
who did a meta-survey of wage research”. Note that the details “dozens of
studies” and “in different countries” are mentioned to show that the study was
taken very seriously. That makes the reader think that the conclusions drawn
shall be reliable. Also, some of DePillis’ evidence is based on economic
realities; she refers, for example, to the kind of unemployment that results
because “native workers and jobs do not always match”, which is true. Sometimes
natives refuse certain jobs because they expect better opportunities… Her
arguments are well based on employers’ and workers’ behavior in general. In
addition, she does not only give her reader theoretical arguments about employment,
she also gives concrete results, that is numbers to show the veracity of what
she is defending. For instance, she wrote that “one percent increase in the
presence of foreign scientists and engineers increased the wages of college
educated workers by 7 to 8 percent” to show that immigration had good effects,
was good for natives… Finally, she considers, at the end of her text, that some
people might still not be convinced and faces the possibility that they might
think of the numerous studies/articles that are against immigration… She
responds to that possibility that “[these studies] are not representative of
the preponderance of research – and can likely be attributed to an inflexible
labor market that doesn’t allow employers to use foreign labor to benefit
everyone”.
Works cited
DePillis ,
Lydia , “Immigration helps American workers: The definitive
argument”. The
Washington Post Newspaper. The Washington Post. 6 May 2014.
Web. 20 October 2015.
moodle
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