The Truth About Immigrants in the Job Market

Julia Preston of the N.Y. Times reports on a frequently ignored aspect of modern immigration to the United States:  “In 14 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas, including Boston, New York and San Francisco, more immigrants are employed in white-collar occupations than in lower-wage work like construction, manufacturing or cleaning.  The data belie a common perception in the nation’s hard-fought debate over immigration — articulated by lawmakers, pundits and advocates on all sides of the issue — that the surge in immigration in the last two decades has overwhelmed the United States with low-wage foreign laborers.” (emphasis added).

KJ