Nearly half of Americans now say that illegal immigration to the United States reduces wages of the working and middle class, a new poll finds.
In the latest Harvard/Harris Poll, about 48 percent of Americans say increased illegal immigration to the U.S. reduces wages for workers, agreeing with decades of data that indicates mass immigration’s crushing impact on Americans’ wages.
Only 10 percent of Americans say illegal immigration increases U.S. wages while 42 percent say illegal immigration doesn’t impact wages.
About 73 percent of supporters of President Trump’s say illegal immigration reduces wages for Americans. Another nearly 60 percent of Americans living in rural regions of the country say illegal immigration reduces U.S. wages.
As Breitbart News reported, a whistleblower in the California construction industry says American workers were once offered a starting wage of about $45 an hour in the late 1980s. Fast-forward to 2018 — nearly two decades into when illegal aliens began flooding the industry — wages have fallen by more than half, standing at just $11 an hour.
With Trump’s tightened labor market, there has been history-making wage growth for American workers in the construction industry, the garment industry, for workers employed at small businesses, black Americans, and restaurant workers.
The tight labor market has also secured higher wages for overtime workers and high-paying, coveted white collar jobs for American teenagers. Most recently, Breitbart News reported how the construction industry has had to recruit women to take jobs at higher wages rather than hiring illegal aliens. A Chick-Fil-A in California even raised wages to $18 an hour to retain workers.
Labor data does not accurately explain the wage growth in pockets of blue-collar industries that Americans across the U.S. have experienced due to the Trump administration’s stricter immigration enforcement. This is largely due to the fact that labor data does not break down wage growth by occupation and industry.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.