The Labor Department's estimate of unemployment was at 3.7% for August. That's very close to what economists consider as "full employment", and it marks the seventh month in a row that the unemployment rate was below 4.0%. But there's one problem with that. There are more than 10 million unfilled jobs in the country -- jobs that employers would love to fill.
Filling those jobs would be good for everyone. It would increase the amount of money circulating in our economy -- increasing business profits, reducing poverty, and increasing tax revenues at all levels (national, state, local). How can the country fill those available jobs?
There are about 1.6 million workers that are considered marginally-attached to the labor force. These are workers that are unemployed, but no longer looking for work -- because they cannot afford to take the jobs available to them. The wage offered is a poverty wage, or child care would cost too much to make the job affordable.
Two measures could allow these people to return to the work force -- a higher minimum wage and help to pay for decent child care. Democrats have tried to raise the minimum wage and cap child care costs at 7% of a worker's salary. Republicans killed both measures.
Even if those two measures were passed though, it would not solve the problem of millions of jobs going unfilled. It would help a little, but there would still be millions of unfilled jobs.
And the problem is going to get worse. The birth rate for citizens is dropping, and the population growth is slowing dramatically. Recent growth has been the slowest in the nation's history.
There is a solution -- more legal immigration.
Republicans want you to believe that the undocumented immigrants coming to this country are taking jobs that could go to citizens. NOT TRUE! The millions of jobs are available to citizens, and still going unfilled. The immigrants would happily take the jobs not wanted by citizens.
Republicans also say we need a "merit system" of immigration. They only want to let in educated and skilled workers (mostly white). This would not work. Those are the people who would actually compete for the good high-paying jobs in this country. We need immigrants who will take the jobs citizens don't want -- mostly lower-paying jobs with poor working conditions and no benefits.
The immigrants we are currently trying to keep out of this country would fill those jobs -- and that would be good for everyone. Businesses could fill their jobs and do a better job of helping their customers. Government would see more tax revenues (if the immigrants were legalized). And citizens would benefit from a healthier economy with more money circulating.
We must defeat the racist anti-immigrant policies of the right, and allow more immigrants to enter this country to work legally. We must do it for the good of the country.
