4 ms·

What's the difference between outsourcing and immigration? It's still taking jobs away from the native population.

by usrn 4y ago

vsskanth 4y ago
Its a very common misconception that immigration takes away jobs from the native population. Also known as "Lump of Labor Fallacy".
- usrn 4y ago
  Then why not outsource?
causi 4y ago
Because the money still goes into the American economy. They buy food, housing, insurance, consumer goods, services. Immigrants are a huge financial boon because we get an adult that Americans didn't have to pay for. Prenatal care, delivery, food, childhood education, all of that gets paid for by somebody else and then we get the product of their expenditure for free. That's like every single immigrant donating one or two hundred thousand dollars to the nation as a whole the moment they cross the border. Then as an added bonus they have children here, and help shore up declining birthrates.
- usrn 4y ago
  We don't want them buying housing, we have a housing shortage.
  - vsskanth 4y ago
    "They" are not the cause of the shortage. You will have a housing shortage even without "Them" because of zoning issues and housing supply shortage.
    - polski-g 4y ago
      It's both
  - causi 4y ago
    More people wanting a product is a short-term price driver. If the price stays exorbitant over years and decades that is a supply-side problem that will not be fixed by slightly reducing the number of consumers.
  - rchaud 4y ago
    Who should buy the housing stock then? Investment funds that will convert the homes to long-term Airbnbs?
sfink 4y ago
Kind of like the difference between renting and buying. Financially, money paid to immigrants stays in the economy of the country they've immigrated to. (Minus money sent back to family in their country of origin, but that will necessarily be much less than 100%.) Socially, immigrants become part of the community & society. Given that they tend to be skilled, motivated, and adaptable (they need to communicate with multiple cultures, for one!), this tends to be a good deal for the receiving country. It's like trade, it always seems to end up enriching trading partners as compared to those that refuse to trade at all. And like trade, it requires some degree of control and regulation to not impoverish portions of the population while enriching others—both trade and immigration can be gamed. Nothing's going to have a positive impact on everyone across the board, but it's not like what people seem to be fearing when they focus only on the direct job impact on the so-called "native" population.

What's the difference between outsourcing and immigration? It's still taking jobs away from the native population.

by usrn 4y ago

What's the difference between outsourcing and immigration? It's still taking jobs away from the native population.

Its a very common misconception that immigration takes away jobs from the native population. Also known as "Lump of Labor Fallacy".

usrn 4y ago
Then why not outsource?

causi 4y ago

Because the money still goes into the American economy. They buy food, housing, insurance, consumer goods, services. Immigrants are a huge financial boon because we get an adult that Americans didn't have to pay for. Prenatal care, delivery, food, childhood education, all of that gets paid for by somebody else and then we get the product of their expenditure for free. That's like every single immigrant donating one or two hundred thousand dollars to the nation as a whole the moment they cross the border. Then as an added bonus they have children here, and help shore up declining birthrates.

usrn 4y ago
We don't want them buying housing, we have a housing shortage.
- vsskanth 4y ago
  "They" are not the cause of the shortage. You will have a housing shortage even without "Them" because of zoning issues and housing supply shortage.
  - polski-g 4y ago
    It's both
- causi 4y ago
  More people wanting a product is a short-term price driver. If the price stays exorbitant over years and decades that is a supply-side problem that will not be fixed by slightly reducing the number of consumers.
- rchaud 4y ago
  Who should buy the housing stock then? Investment funds that will convert the homes to long-term Airbnbs?

sfink 4y ago

Kind of like the difference between renting and buying. Financially, money paid to immigrants stays in the economy of the country they've immigrated to. (Minus money sent back to family in their country of origin, but that will necessarily be much less than 100%.) Socially, immigrants become part of the community & society. Given that they tend to be skilled, motivated, and adaptable (they need to communicate with multiple cultures, for one!), this tends to be a good deal for the receiving country. It's like trade, it always seems to end up enriching trading partners as compared to those that refuse to trade at all. And like trade, it requires some degree of control and regulation to not impoverish portions of the population while enriching others—both trade and immigration can be gamed. Nothing's going to have a positive impact on everyone across the board, but it's not like what people seem to be fearing when they focus only on the direct job impact on the so-called "native" population.