by Roy Beck

NumbersUSA pursues an immigration policy that would allow workers at the bottom of the skills ladder to earn wages that would support lives of dignity.

Most foreign workers -- whether legal immigrants or illegal aliens -- compete directly with America's most vulnerable workers who already barely make enough to survive. Foreign migration, thus, has suppressed wage growth for the bottom rung of America's workers.

As America's entire history has shown, increasing wages do not necessarily mean increasing prices. This country became a substantially middle-class society because the people at the bottom saw their wages rise rapidly between 1924 (when immigration was substantially cut) and 1970 (right after immigration was substantially increased). In fact the bottom of the ladder saw much faster wage growth than those in the upper half.

That is the kind of society I want to live in. I want the people cleaning the toilets, emptying the waste baskets, washing the dishes, making the beds, processing the meat, etc. to make decent wages that allow them to live lives of dignity and raise families in dignity. If that causes my cost of living to rise a bit, then that is worth it for the joy of not having to live in a third-world society of have-not masses.

The society I just described existed in my childhood. But mass immigration and massive illegal immigration have substantially changed the society.

In fact, though, the elimination of illegal immigration and significant reduction of legal immigration likely would not drive most prices up at all. Managerial and technological advances could quickly make up in productivity for increased wages so that prices don't rise at all. That is substantially what happened during the tight labor market conditions of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Low-education, low-skill foreign labor has had a profound influence in retarding productivity growth, especially in our agricultural industries.