Illegal immigration's overall impact on the US economy is negligible, despite clear benefits for employers and unauthorized immigrants and slightly depressed wages for low-skilled native workers, according to this report by University of California, San Diego Professor of Economics Gordon Hanson for MPI's Labor Markets Initiative. The largest economic gains from illegal immigration flow to unauthorized workers, who see very substantial income hikes after migrating, Hanson says, suggesting that policy changes could increase the positive contribution that low-skilled workers make to the US economy by converting illegal flows to legal ones.
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Speakers:
Gordon Hanson, Director, Center on Pacific Economies, and Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego
Jeanne Butterfield, Senior Advisor for Legislation and Policy, National Immigration Forum
Marc Rosenblum, MPI Senior Policy Analyst
Michael Fix, MPI Senior Vice President and Director of Studies