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Study: Lack of work is not driving illegal immigration
A report suggests the way to curb illegal entry into the U.S. is to improve job quality in Mexico.
By JOSE CARDENAS
Published December 7, 2005
A lack of jobs in Mexico does not seem to be a major reason that immigrants come to the United States illegally, according to a study released Tuesday.
Rather, the study by the Pew Hispanic Center suggests stemming illegal immigration to the United States would require addressing wages, job quality, long-term prospects and perception of opportunity in Mexico, according to researchers.
"There is more distance to be covered than just finding jobs for these people in Mexico," Rakesh Kochhar, the study's author, said during a telephone news conference.
The study also found that, despite the lack of legal right to work in the United States, immigrants have little trouble finding employment here.
The center estimates there are 6.3-million illegal workers in the United States, about half of whom are from Mexico.
Researchers interviewed almost 5,000 men and women applying for Mexican identification cards at consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Fresno, Atlanta and Raleigh, N.C.
About 5 percent of Mexican immigrants who have been in the United States for less than two years were unemployed in Mexico, the study found.
And after six months in the United States, only 5 percent of the immigrants reported being unemployed.
The immigrants generally make poverty-level wages in the United States - about $300 per week - but it's roughly twice what they made in Mexico, according to the report.
According to the study, the Mexican immigrants appear to provide different types of labor needed round the country: construction in Atlanta, Dallas and Raleigh; hospitality in New York; manufacturing in Chicago; and agriculture in Fresno.
It's not news that there is demand for low-wage labor among American companies, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington D.C.
But instead of a guest-worker program or amnesty for illegal immigrants, Krikorian said, removing them gradually would, among other things, improve wages for American workers.
[Last modified December 7, 2005, 00:34:15]
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