Janice Nittoli: Our Blue-Collar Great Depression - WSJ.com

QA - IMMIGRANTS?: Janice Nittoli: Our Blue-Collar Great Depression - WSJ.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Question: Can't we put a lot of the blame for job losses on illegal immigrants?

Answer:

Not so simple. The immigrant may be willing to work for the true "clearing price" for labor.

Those who think the immigrant is stealing "their" job, should recognize that the price they want to receive for "their" job - and, this includes all the added costs mandated by government and unions - has made the labor market increasingly inflexible.

Add to this inflexibility and distortion of costs (the labor conundrum), the anti-business policies rampant at Federal and State levels.

Immigrants would help the US maintain and grow its standard of living if the labor market was freer of legislated and union-based distortions.

Ask yourself if there isn't a price at which you'd no longer pay a plumber to come and fix a problem - and, likewise, a price at which you might have some extra work to be done? This is the concept of "economic utility" - again something grossly distorted by (well-meaning, but counter productive in terms of job creation and economic growth) government policies.