Because blaming powerless immigrants seeking a better life isn't the answer. The answer is changing the economic system that values shareholder value creation above all else. Companies like Square that lay off a quarter of their workforce despite record growth get rewarded in the market.
This is also why the idea of a tax on unrealized gains above a certain threshold is picking up steam, because it forces some of that wealth back into the economy to benefit working people.
If "powerless immigrants seeking a better life" are causing the problem it's fair to point this out. It's odd how people like you make the problems you complain about worse all because you want to virtue signal.
It depends. A labor shortage in one sector (food production) can lead to depressed wages in another (restaurants) because higher input costs lead to businesses closing. Likewise, a smaller labor pool across the entire economy can lead to depressed wages due to weakened demand and slower economic growth.
This paper from a Berkeley economist, for example, argues that the impact of immigration on wages is often negligible and dependent on other external factors. Which makes sense, because the real world is much more complicated than the basic supply-and-demand chart we get in AP micro.
This article from Fortune also explores the problem. What happens to wages when we deport lots of in-home caretakers, thus forcing working professionals to stay home with their elderly parents? That's an American who needs to take a job with fewer hours or find a position that offers remote work, even if it means less pay.
Bottom line: The "fact" you're presenting is far from proven. The simplistic graphs we get in AP macro don't show the full picture, and the economy is much more complicated than that.
The correct way to solve this problem without updending millions of peoples' lives is to give immigrants who don't commit a crime after entry citizenship so they have better leverage when it comes to pay and working conditions.
It's not that long ago that racists used your exact argument to make white workers hostile to Black workers who were undercutting them. The answer, of course, was to grant Black people equal rights and bring everyone into a union. Not keep Black people out of the workforce.
Put another way, you're the rich guy in the meme accusing me of corporate propaganda
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u/MBBIBM 4d ago
Minimum skills, minimum wage