In chapter seven of George J. Borjas’s We Wanted Workers, George talks about the impact of the labor markets impact with respect to immigrants. In the introduction of this chapter George talks about how immigrants are doing jobs that the natives that live in the country do not want to do. “Immigrants do jobs that natives will not do and have little impact on native job opportunities as a result.” This quote intrigued me as it implied that immigrants would not have an impact on the labor markets if they were to enter our country. But I believe that they would, as discussed in chapters 3 and 4, if immigrants were to enter our country and take the place of minimum wage jobs the minimum wage would drop drastically, because these immigrants would be willing to do the same job for less than the natives are getting paid to do the job.
In an example that involves a company called Cider Inc. in Georgia was found to have 75% of its workers illegal immigrants. They then ran an add that said they would increase wages in order to get workers working for them. This was a smart idea, but compared to what they were paying the immigrants it was not that much of a pay day.
Once immigrants are in our country, there is really not that much leeway for them to move up to achieve the American Dream. Once they enter the country, they usually do not have any education or previous working experience to excel and move up the ladder in society.
Another aspect to consider while reading into the issue of wages for immigrants in America is the fact that when immigrants flood a specific skill area, the wages for that job drop significantly when there are a select people that are willing to do the job, usually under the table and for less benefits.