Latest Research: Immigrants Don’t Hurt Native Workers

Businessweek reports on new research by economist Gianmarco Ottaviano of the University of Bologna and Giovanni Peri of the University of California at Davis. They say immigrants compete for jobs with broader swath of native workers, diluting their impact on the least skilled segment of the local workforce. They also say that employers can’t substitute an immigrant for an American that easily. They find that immigration’s effect on local worker’s wages is almost too small to measure.  Here is the paper.  Download op_redux_july_20081.txt

This latest research contradicts the research of Harvard Economist George Borjas.  The issue of immigration’s impact on domestic workers has long influenced the immigration debate.  And the controversy — and this study or 100 like it — will not likely subside soon.

KJ