The impact of illegal immigration on the US economy

With the global economic downturn there is a huge demand for cheap labor and a major source for cheap labor happens to be illegal immigrants. Because of their status as illegal immigrants and their need to find jobs, they compete with US citizens for jobs for much lesser wages. In the past illegal immigrants typically got the hard or undesirable jobs at lesser wages, those jobs dubbed as “jobs Americans wouldn’t do”. However, in recent times, skilled illegal immigrants are being employed for more decent jobs, eliminating Americans as the immigrants are willing to work for much less. Research by the Harvard University indicates that the influx of immigrants from 1980 – 2000 has resulted in a 3.7% wage loss for American workers and that American’s without a high-school diploma are the ones affected the most as they are in direct competition with illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigrants have a significant impact on tax and social security too. The IRS estimates that up to six million illegal immigrants file for individual income tax returns each year. Research also indicates that as much as 50 – 75 percent of illegal immigrant workers pay federal, state and local taxes and that as much as seven billion dollars a year is paid into Social Security.