It's not really a scapegoat, it is a major part of the issue. The balance between wage growth and immigration rates don't seem to be discussed in mainstream politics (Likely because it's in the interests of the ownership class to keep the issue muted). The issue gets relegated to the fringes, and thus becomes an emotionally charged issue.

I am not an economist but immigration rates and the relaxing of barriers of trade between nations would seem to be the most impactful policies on domestic wage growth. You can always argue that these policies have helped to lift the rest of the world out of poverty, but it doesn't belie the fact that increased immigration rates impact on wage growth for American workers. Maybe someone could shed more light on this issue, but I would suspect that both issues are inexorably tied.

Immigration can have an impact on wages, but It's a much more complex function than more immigrants equals more labor supply equals lower wages.

Immigrants also contribute to the economy. Depending on how much they contribute, immigration can raise or lower wages. The issue is how much do they contribute? Immigration doves argue they are a net gain, while immigration hawks argue they are a net detriment.

Historically, in the long run, immigration has always been a net gain.

George J. Borjas from Harvard has done a ton of research demonstrating how immigration suppresses wages across labor categories.

And his work is extremely controversial. If you look at his Mariel boatlift study, his conclusions don't fit the evidence.

He's not completely incorrect though: Illegal immigration accounts for a significant portion of farm and construction labor in the southwest/midwest because it gets around pesky minimum wage and other labor laws. These are usually unskilled jobs however, so their effect on other wages is likely nonsignificant. Legal Immigration in general tends to grow wages as the GDP and investment increases.

We also don't know what the real impact undocumented immigrants have on the labor market. They tend to have some impact on aggregate demand, the same as legal immigrants because they also participate in the economy as well.

Right. illegal immigration likely does not effect these numbers in a significant way, and legal immigration raises wages.

How is it not a scapegoat to say immigration is the cause of flat wages?

> How is it not a scapegoat to say immigration is the cause of flat wages?

Flood your economy with low skilled labor at the same time that average GDP growth is at an all-time low and productivity growth is at an all-time low. See what happens.

If your economy isn't growing fast enough to absorb the amount of low skill labor that you're importing, you're going to considerably depress wages.

In more realistic terms, 1.5% to 2% GDP growth isn't going to get you anywhere. You have a stagnant economy at those growth rates. Finally then the mistake is being made of throwing a lot of new unskilled labor on top of that at exactly the historical time when you need a lot of new unskilled labor the least.

What you’re saying is directly opposed to what the article states, FYI.

If the labor pool increases in relation to jobs, than yes, he's correct, it will depress wages, that's simple economics. However the blame doesn't lie with the immigrants: you shouldn't be working so simple a job it can be easily taken over by an unskilled worker and expect a decent wage.

When you add an immigrant to the country, it's not just the labor pool that grows - it's also the demand (because every new resident needs housing, food and other services), and that demand translates to jobs.

Exactly. I'm not sure why we're being down voted into oblivion, but this is exactly correct.