As the battle over immigration reform rages on, the American people are largely unified in their preferences for weaning businesses off of cheap foreign labor and training American workers to fill white and blue-collar roles alike.
Asked in a recent Rasmussen poll whether Congress should increase the number of “highly skilled” foreign workers to fill white-collar jobs, Americans responded with a resounding, “no”.
The Rasmussen poll finds a strong rejection of programs such as the H-1B visa program which allows big business to bypass American workers and hire foreign workers to fill skilled roles.
By thirty-four points – 60 percent to 26 percent – Americans say the U.S. already has enough skilled people to train and recruit for these jobs and doesn’t need to rely on foreign labor. Again, only 26 percent of Americans say the U.S. needs more foreign workers to fill roles.
Democrats agree that the U.S. already has enough talented people to fill most white-collar roles by ten points – 47 percent to 37 percent. Non-partisans agree by a full 41 points – 63 percent to 22 percent.
When asked about foreign-labor enthusiasts’ loudest argument – that companies are unable to find Americans to take jobs in construction, manufacturing, hospitality and other areas – Americans hit back by saying companies need to raise their pay to attract Americans to do those jobs.
The “businesses should raise their pay to attract Americans” argument against importing cheap foreign labor is favored by a broad coalition of Americans. Democrats agree with the raise-wages argument by 14 points – 49 percent to 35 percent – and non-partisans agree by 43 points.
In fact, the only group who believes business should be allowed to skirt around paying Americans higher wages and instead rely on cheap foreign labor is liberals. Liberals say by a narrow five points – 44 percent to 39 percent – it is better for Congress to keep feeding the economy with cheap foreign labor rather than incentivize businesses to pay Americans higher wages, a somewhat absurd inversion of priorities.
What about the argument that businesses will simply pass higher prices on to consumers if they are forced to pay substantial wages to workers instead of relying on cheap foreign labor?
Americans say by a resounding 35 points – 59 percent to 24 percent – that even if businesses pass higher prices on to consumers it is worth it if they are training and compensating Americans instead of relying on cheap foreign labor. While the country may feel some initial sticker-shock, Americans are largely willing to see prices rise temporarily in order to ensure more of our country is employed and fairly compensated.
As a whole, the American people appear to be rejecting the vast immigration experiment of the past six decades, which sought to reduce the criminality of illegal immigration as well as feed big business with a steady stream of cheap foreign labor.
Americans say by 40 points – 62 percent to 28 percent – that in terms of overall quality of life the U.S. would be better off either reducing or halting all immigration, at least for a period. Even Democrats agree by three points – 45 percent to 42 percent – that overall quality of life would improve with a reduction or complete pause to immigration driven population growth.
Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
Reproduced with permission. Daily Torch – Keeping the light of liberty shining
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