Study: Immigrants (legal & illegal) accounting for all net job growth in NC
A new study has found that new arrivals to North Carolina and the United States have been enjoying the most success in landing jobs in The Tar Heel State. The Center for Immigration Studies says the net job growth within our state since 2000 has gone entirely to immigrants — both legal and illegal:
[…] According to the limited immigration group, while the “native” working age (16-65 years old) North Carolina population has increased by 61 percent since 2000, the share of “natives” in that state’s work force has declined.
“The total number of working-age (16 to 65) immigrants (legal and illegal) holding a job in North Carolina increased by 313,000 from the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2014, while the number of working-age natives with a job declined by 32,000 over the same time,” the report reads, explaining that in the past 14 years has seen the labor-force participation of natives in North Carolina in decline.
The study comes as North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan — who voted for the Senate-passed “Gang of Eight” immigration bill last summer that would have provided a path to legalization to the undocumented population and significantly increased the number of guest workers in the United States — is engaged in a tight re-election bid against Republican challenger Thom Tillis.
“A huge number of working-age people in North Carolina are not working, and labor force participation remains at record lows. Thus, it is remarkable that any of the state’s political leaders would support legislation that would actually increase the number of foreign workers allowed into the country,” Steven Camarota, CIS’s head of research and the report’s lead author, said in a statement. […]
Why isn’t Tillis beating her over the head with this? Well, let’s look back at one of our posts from December, 2013:
It looks as if some big donors are calling in some chits with the Tillis for Senate campaign. Speaker Thom appeared before the NC Farm Bureau Monday to urge DC and Raleigh to get moving on “comprehensive immigration reform” and “a pathway to citizenship.”:
[…]
The Farm Bureau came out in support of the immigration bill the U.S. Senate passed earlier this year. The bill would include a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, stronger border security, better entry-exit records to make it harder for people to overstay visas, and a verification system for employers.
When the Senate voted in June, Hagan was for it. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, voted against it. The U.S. House of Representatives has declined to take up the Senate’s comprehensive approach, however.
Tillis at the time said he probably would have voted “No” along with the majority of Senate Republicans, but that he didn’t know enough about it to say for sure.
The state House under his leadership has failed to pass comprehensive immigration bills.
But Tillis told the Farm Bureau that the next legislation session should focus more attention on immigration reform. That would be an unusual move in a short session, when controversial topics generally aren’t on the agenda.
Tillis invited Farm Bureau members to “give us some ideas of more things we need to do around immigration policy and help me communicate across this state why effective immigration policy is so critical and so important to this industry.”
He added, according to Democrats who tracked his remarks: “You all know what we need to do. … You go out there and talk about it. Start talking about smart immigration reform. You’re going to help us get out there and actually get it done.”
Earlier this year, Gov. Pat McCrory vetoed a state bill that triples the period in which seasonal workers do not have to have their immigration status checked in the federal E-Verify system. But the legislature overrode the veto.
Tillis told the Farm Bureau that the override was the right thing to do.
“I felt very strongly that was the policy that you all needed help on and relief on and I’m glad that my House members and my Senate colleagues agree,” he said.
That’s a special kind of talent to brand yourself as a “conservative,” and then get to the left of Pat McCrory on immigration.
[…]
CIS gives us a few more facts to chew on:
-First, the long-term decline in employment for natives in North Carolina and the enormous number of working-age natives not working clearly indicate that there is no general labor shortage in the state. Thus, it is very difficult to justify the large increases in foreign workers (skilled and unskilled) who would be allowed into the country by a bill like S.744 that many of the state’s politicians support.
-Second, North Carolina’s working-age immigrant population grew 146 percent from 2000 to 2014, one of the highest rates of any state in the nation. Yet the number of natives working in 2014 was actually lower than in 2000. This undermines the argument that immigration increases job opportunities for natives.
One issue that will clearly define whether conservative voters can consider holding their nose to vote for Tillis is amnesty for illegal aliens (that is the correct term, NOT ”undocumented immigrants”). Is Tillis for the North Carolina citizens or for the special interests and foreign interests. Right now it certainly looks like he is very much on the wrong side of that issue, and unless he mades a convincing hard right turn on it, he will forfeit lots of conservative votes.
Amnesty is a ”third rail” issue for many conservatives, including me.
It is all about issues, Thommy! Time to wise up!
Until Pat McCrory endorsed Tillis, I thought Pat would be a genuine threat as a presidential candidate. Jindal, Walker, Perry, Christie, Nikki Haley and other so called “executive experience” candidates are weak on immigration. If Tillis loses this will hurt McCrory’s sense of judgement.
What is Pat McCrory’s background in pandering on immigration? I think in the Gubernatorial race he said he wasn’t going to do anything major on immigration.
He was on the Homeland Security Advisory Council appointed by Bush. Bush is pro-amnesty but a lot of the people involved with the DHS and ICE were troublemakers towards Bush like Kris Kobach.
I thought McCroy would be like Romney. He’d get a pass on his big spending because he stood alone on immigration.
Even Ted Cruz has flirted with legal status for illegals.
Only Jeff Sessions and Pat McCrory in 2013 really stood strong on immigration in terms of the American worker.
Tillis and Sullivan in Alaska are the two worst candidates running throwing away races.
McCrory is loyal to the Chamber of Commerce, he’s supportive of Public Private Partnerships and corporate cronyism, embraces Common Core and appoints Leftists to key positions, and you thought he would be a Presidential contender, really?
Walker was misquoted on immigration, and the lefty media put that around quite a bit. He has later done a more extensive interview on the subject in which he clearly said he is not for rewarding those who violate our immigration laws.
Walker is IMHO presidential material.
And the US just entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Mexican government to allow Mexican Nationals – regardless of immigration status – to “exercise their workplace rights.”
Hope and Change continues the fundamental transformation of America
More lawlessness by the authoritarian Obama regime, which models itself after the Hugo Chavez dictatorship in Venezuela. The bandit Obama has agreed with a foreign country to disregard US law. He ought to be charged with treason.
The Chamber of Commerce, Karl Rove, Pat McCroy and Thom Thillis only want to bring minimum wage jobs to NC. We need jobs that pay more than minimum wage! Thillis is not the one to bring those to NC.
Minimum wage jobs coming to NC? Talks in Cumberland County per another Poultry Processing Plant. The issue is, ‘Who Gets the Jobs’ ? Even with E-Verify in place, who’s checking?
All the politicians complain about illegal immigration but nobody does anything about it. Obama will declare amnesty and the Democrats will pick up yet another voting block which will keep them in power for a long time. I’m beginning to believe the Republicans are merely providing lip service on amnesty and will be glad for Obama to make the decision.
The US Chamber of Commerce is an extremely evil influence in the Republican Party. In years past, they were oriented to free enterprise, but today they are little more than crony capitalists looking for deals with big government to put money in their pockets. They are rabidly pro-amnesty. And in North Carolina, Thom Tillis has sold his soul to them. The US Chamber of Commerce is why we have so many GOP fifth columnists on amnesty. Conservatives should reject ANY candidate connected to the US Chamber of Commerce. In today’s politics they are as bad as Big Labor.
When the GOP controlled both the House and Senate–and the Presidency from 2000-2006, they did absolutely nothing to control illegal immigration. Enough said. The Republican Party stands for nothing; never has, never will. They will go the way of the Whigs.
Great post Raphael! I hope that you send similar to many NC newspapers and to the Thillis campaign for sure! I totally AGREE!
As a former business owner, I always chose to avoid the CofC and have NEVER regretted it…