A survey of Americans’ views of immigrant contribution to the U.S. economy reveals that more people believe that inexpensive immigrant workforce brings a positive effect.
Releasing the finding of the survey conducted this month, Gallup said 49% of U.S. adults believe immigrants help the nation’s economy by providing low-cost labor.
On the other hand, 40% who think immigrants hurt the economy by driving down wages.
The trend marks a near reversal of the last time Gallup asked this question, in 2005, when more thought immigrants harmed (49%) than helped (42%) the economy.
The latest results come from a June 7-11 Gallup poll at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration taking steps including a travel ban on new visa applicants from six Muslim majority countries and also seeking legislation on undocumented people living in the United States.
The organization noted on Thursday that Gallup’s trend on this question stretches back to Bill Clinton’s presidency, in 1993. At that time, shortly after the 1990-1991 recession, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults thought immigrants did more harm than good for the economy.
This concern eased in 1999 and 2000, but briefly shot up again in 2004, when former President George W. Bush proposed a temporary worker program that would have allowed 8 million illegal immigrants to obtain legal status before dropping back to 49% in 2005, it said.
The ongoing debate over immigrants, legal and illegal, amplified during the 2016 presidential election campaign when the then candidate and some other Republicans catapulted the immigration reform issue to top of the political discourse.
One of the arguments forwarded by the anti-immigrant voices is that immigrants are taking jobs from American citizens. Americans opposing immigration also question whether illegal immigrants should receive government services such as healthcare and education.
In response to Gallup’s question whether immigrants take jobs that Americans want or if they take low-paying jobs that U.S. adults aren’t interested in, a commanding margin, 72% said immigrants take jobs Americans don’t want.
On the other hand,18% who say immigrants take jobs U.S. adults want.
Americans’ views on this issue have been relatively consistent since 1993, with the great majority consistently saying immigrants mostly take jobs Americans don’t want. This was highest in 2004, when 77% believed immigrants mainly take undesired jobs.
According to Gallup, in addition to Americans’ views that immigrants have a positive impact on the economy, and that they take jobs others don’t want, most employed adults don’t see immigrants having a negative effect on their own work situation. Specifically, 60% say immigration has no effect on their own job, while 54% say it isn’t having an effect on the business or organization they work for either.
Among U.S. workers who believe immigration has had an impact on their job or company, more say this has been positive rather than negative. Only 11% to 12% say immigration has had a negative effect on their job or company they work for.
As noted by Gallup, immigration has long been a contentious issue in the U.S., dating back to the 1800s, when immigrants from outside of Northern Europe began arriving in large numbers. Since then, the issue has never really faded from American consciousness, as waves of immigrants from other areas of the globe continue to arrive in the United States.
