A fast-growing population was key to Texas? record job growth,�fueling a demand for construction and services while the rest of the�country languished. How much did illegal immigration contribute to�the state's growth?
Relying significantly on lower-wage jobs to fuel growth, Texas has�drawn from a large, relatively cheap labor pool that?s included large�numbers of legal and illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants have taken jobs in many of the industries central to Texas? economic�boom, such as home construction, agriculture and the service industry. Illegal and legal immigrants make up about 20�percent of the state?s total workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 8 percent of Texas? total workforce was made up of illegal�immigrants as of 2008.
?It?s a big part of our economy across the board, overwhelmingly in�low-skilled, hard work,? says Charles Foster, a Houston-based�immigration attorney and board member of the Greater Houston�Partnership, a business development group. ?It impacts Texas more than�almost any other state.? The state?s heavy reliance on immigrant labor may not�have dragged wages down to rock bottom either: As�Matthias Shapiro notes, the state?s�median hourly wage is $15.14, ranking 28th of 51 in the�nation, and it?s been increasing at the sixth-highest rate since the�recession.
While the illegal immigrant population has dropped off nationwide�during the recession, the number of illegal immigrants in Texas stayed�steady. It may have even gone up between 2007 and 2009: according to Pew Hispanic Center, the population rose�by 200,000 during those two years, though the group notes this figure isn?t statistically significant. As part of the bigger Hispanic�community, illegal immigrants also increased the state?s population by�bearing more children, as fertility rates are higher�among Hispanics than whites and African-Americans. Altogether,�foreign-born Hispanics ? including legal and illegal immigrants ? make�up nearly a third of the state?s Hispanic population, which itself has fueled 65 percent of population growth in Texas since 2000.
At the same time, the growing immigrant community ? along with the rest�of the state?s booming population ? has put greater demands on the�public sector, racking up costs in education, health care and other resources. While illegal immigrants are ineligible for most public�benefits, they still receive emergency care that the state covers when�hospitals pass on the costs. And the growing number of new residents overall is also expected to strain public resources in Texas �down the road, especially if the state continues to make draconian�budget cuts. By 2013, for example, Texas is expected�to add 160,000 schoolchildren, and a higher demand for water amid�a dwindling supply may force taxpayers to build reservoirs and fix
aging infrastructure.
But there?s some evidence that there?s a net economic benefit to�illegal immigration, even with such costs factored in. In 2006, the
Texas state comptroller, a Republican, released�a study showing that illegal immigrants produced more in state�revenues than they received in state services in the previous year:�?Undocumented immigrants produced $1.58 billion in state revenues, which exceeded the $1.16 billion in state services they received.?�(The study also notes that ?local governments bore the burden of $1.44 billion in uncompensated health care costs and local law enforcement�costs not paid for by the state,? without providing figures about local revenues that these immigrants generated.) The comptroller estimated,�moreover, that the Texas workforce would decline by 6.3 percent�without the illegal immigrant population, even accounting for new�arrivals that would most likely come to replace them.
To be sure, the state comptroller?s report came out before the�recession changed the entire economic outlook of the country, Texas�included. But more recent research has confirmed some of its�findings. In a study last year, University of California, Davis economist Giovanni Peri found�that immigration ? both legal and illegal ? had a short-term negative�impact on employment and average income rates of native-born workers.�But in the longer term, Peri concludes, ?immigration unambiguously improves employment, productivity, and income? for native workers as�well and shows no evidence of depressing wages.
Such trends were clearly on display during the recent downturn: In�June 2009, the unemployment rate for immigrant workers fell by 0.6�percent during the recession while rising for native workers by 0.5 percent, as Rakesh Kochhar, a researcher at Pew Hispanic Center, testified before�Congress in March. But employment rates for both groups rose as the�economy began to improve in late 2010, Kochhar added: ?Thus, the�economic recovery now appears to be benefiting all workers, although�the gains to native-born workers have been a bit later in coming.? �In other words, according to such research, immigration tends to make�things slightly worse for native workers amid a recession, while�raising income and employment for everyone during times of economic expansion ? and in the long run.
So Texas, with its booming economy, may have more to benefit from with its�large immigrant population, both illegal and illegal. But that doesn?t necessarily�mean that all states would immediately benefit from a big influx of�immigrant workers.
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=f8e3dc8b7e8b3c09e7b47c206569c83e
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