Illegal Workforce

A study by the U.S. State Department that was released today suggests that a proposed federal law requiring employers to fire employees whose names and Social Security numbers do not match will cost employers up to $1 billion per year, and cost legal employees who get fired due to administrative records errors up to $37 billion as a whole. This is another example of how dependent many companies in the U.S. are on illegal immigrant labor, and why passing significant immigration reform proposals is almost impossible to do. Companies with a large undocumented workforce oppose any attempts to either crack down on illegal immigration or improve illegal workers’ rights, because either scenario means the company will lose lots of money. No matter what you think about the whole illegal immigration debate—whether the immigrants are criminal trespassers that should be deported, or well-meaning workers just looking for a chance to succeed in life—it is hard to argue that, at least for the time being, illegal labor is a huge part of the U.S. economy. To get rid of it—by either deporting the illegals or granting them legal status and thereby increasing their pay—would hurt the economy deeply. That would be a terrible thing, since it is already close to a recession. For the economy, no news on immigration reform is good news.