Freedom Folks

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Econ 101?

Source: azcentral

KD directs our attention to an article that comes so close to getting it right...

Tilting the labor market

Nowhere has the demand for construction labor increased faster than in Arizona. Yet, most construction jobs in Arizona now pay below the state's median hourly wage, which was not the case in 1990. A stagnant or declining price of something is not an indication of a shortage of it. Contrary to the contention of immigration liberals, in almost all cases illegal immigrants do compete with native-born workers. A previous Pew study attempted to ascertain the percentage of the workforce illegal immigrants represented in various job categories. The highest was insulation workers, at 36 percent. That means in virtually all job categories in which illegal immigrants are prominent, at least two-thirds of the workers are legal.
What does Econ 101 teach us about wages boys and girls?

If wages fall that means there is an oversupply of labor. When wages rise it means there is a tight labor market.

How is it we see real wages continuously falling in fields like construction yet we are being told that there is no labor available and we need to import more? According to Econ 101 this is simply not possible.

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