"Illegal-worker discount" is very, very small

Via this comes the Seattle Times article "Low-paid illegal work force has little impact on prices":

More than 7 million illegal immigrants work in the United States. They build houses, pick crops, slaughter cattle, stitch clothes, mow lawns, clean hotel rooms, cook restaurant meals and wash the dishes that come back.

You might assume that the plentiful supply of low-wage illegal workers would translate into significantly lower prices for the goods and services they produce. In fact, their impact on consumer prices — call it the "illegal-worker discount" — is surprisingly small...

Facts and figures follow.

Immigration · Wed, 09/20/2006 - 09:48 · · Importance: 1

Comments

And by all means, please compare the tiny amount you "save" with the higher taxes, insurance, etc that you pay for the schooling, health care, social services for their US born children, etc, not to mention the over-crowded housing, lower standard schools, closing ER's, etc, which cannot be quantified.

Posted by: D Flinchum at Sep 20, 2006 3:00 PM

Sure, it's simple marketing. If a builder builds a home with illegal labor, he is not going to give the savings from cheap labor to the buyer!

The producers in every field are keeping the profit. You cannot call anyone in CA today, no matter how reputable, and get legal workers--and somehow the cost of services and goods goes up, up, up.

Posted by: Pat at Sep 20, 2006 2:21 PM

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