Media misses immigration angle in jobs analysis

A very interesting post from http://www.numbersusa.com/ about the media leaving out immigration as a cause of unemployment. This follows this post about a California Sanctuary Bill and the Border Patrol being gutted.  This follows this post about the Black Caucus hurting Black Americans with their immigration stand. This follows this post about how to Report Illegal Immigrants! For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and you can read this very interesting book HERE!

Media misses immigration angle in jobs analysis






By Jeremy Beck - posted on NumbersUSA



Over the past three months, the economy has created an average of 75,000 new jobs and the federal government has created an average of 75,000 new permanent U.S. job seekers via immigration. The mainstream media does not report the latter statistic. For years, NumbersUSA has talked about the 75,000 permanent work permits the federal government grants (on average) to immigrant workers every month. For the last three months, job creation has barely kept pace with the number of green cards issued - a fact that eluded the press and, therefore, much of the citizenryry.



Reporters do a slightly better job in acknowledging population growth's connection to the employment situation. Unemployment numbers are effected not just by new jobs created but by new workers seeking those jobs:



"We added 80,000 jobs in June. That’s not enough to keep up with population growth." (The June jobs report in one word: ‘unchanged’ Washington Post)

"The economy added only 80,000 jobs in June—much less than what is needed to keep up with natural population growth." (Jobs growth painfully slow; unemployed to remain too high for years The Statesman Journal)

But what the Stateman Journal explicitly states, and the Washington Post implies (that U.S. population growth is a completely natural phenomenon), is not true. In fact, U.S. population growth is primarily engineered by Congress via immigration policy. Seventy-five percent of U.S. population growth between 2000 and 2010 was due to 13.1 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) and 8.2 million births to immigrant mothers in that decade and the Census Bureau projects "86 percent of the population growth during the year 2050 may be due to the effects of post-1992 net immigration." The mainstream media hasn't made the connection and has never questioned the government's forced-growth policies during high unemployment.



By ignoring immigration's role in expanding the labor force, journalists give President Obama, presumptive GOP nominee Romney, and Congress a free pass on their role (potential role, in Romeny's case) in importing workers. The coverage of the June jobs report focused on job creation while ignoring worker importation:



"Each month that the economy produces fewer jobs than are needed just to keep pace with population growth adds to the burden the president faces as the clock ticks toward November." (For Obama, a jobs report that keeps stinging Washington Post);

"To simply drop the unemployment rate below 8 percent before election day, the economy will need to add 219,000 jobs in each of the four jobs reports between now and then — a prospect that, given the last three months, seems very unlikely." (President Obama’s troubling trend line on jobs Washington Post).

The Washington Post speculated that the "downbeat report is likely to put pressure on the Federal Reserve, Congress and the White House to do more to stimulate economic growth and new jobs," but wrote nothing about putting pressure on Congress and the White House to slow the increase in foreign job seekers.



MSNBC found no news-worthy connection between the President's amnesty and the unemployment situation. "Despite things appearing to break the president’s way in the past couple of weeks – from immigration to health care, we’re reminded this morning what this election is all about – the economy, with yet another mediocre-to-bad jobs report."



The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that Obama's policy could grant up to 1.4 million workers under 30 years old permission to compete with America's unemployed youth. But ABC didn't see any reason to raise the issue in its story, "People Under 30 ‘Desperate’ For Full-Time Jobs." The desperate Americans in ABC's story are among the most vulnerable to foreign worker competition. Reporters will get another crack at telling their story next month.



JEREMY BECK is the Director of the Media Standards Program for NumbersUSA



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