- Are Mexicans really stealing jobs from Americans?
- [Man] Cut!
Let's go again. (beep)
- Are Mexicans -- - [Man] No, no, not you.
(beep)
- Are Mexicans really stealing jobs from Americans?
(upbeat music)
- There's been a lot of panic among American workers
that their job opportunities are being taken
by so-called illegal immigrants,
especially ones will work for way less money.
Now we all know that not all undocumented immigrants
are Mexicans, and obviously,
not all Mexicans are undocumented,
but this came to a head during the 2016 election,
when now-President Donald Trump
campaigned on the platform
of cutting back illegal immigration
by building a border wall between the US and Mexico,
and creating stricter deportation policies,
but the way Trump talks about immigrants
sounds like a horror movie.
They're taking our jobs!
They're taking our money!
They're killing us!
Which, to that last one, no.
But as for taking our jobs,
well, that anti-immigrant stance
is almost as old as the United States itself.
But it's worth taking seriously,
because finding work can be very difficult.
Before we get into it,
as we've talked about before,
there are many complicated reasons
why people are unable to immigrate legally,
so instead, we'll refer to those immigrants as undocumented,
instead of demonizing them as illegal.
But let's ask the question.
For every undocumented immigrant that gets a job,
is a job taken away from an American citizen?
To help me explain, I've brought along my friend,
Maritza Montanez.
- Thanks, Francesca.
Undocumented immigrants make up about five percent
of the workforce in America,
and the kinds of jobs that many undocumented immigrants have
are, frankly, the physically exhausting kinds of jobs
in extreme temperatures that most Americans
would rather not do, including me.
Undocumented immigrants are mainly employed
in manual labor and service jobs,
like working on a farm, or as maids and janitors.
And even Americans who might gravitate
toward this type of work
are more likely to get jobs that require English language
and technical skills, like working as a cashier,
or a truck driver.
- But the reasoning behind this idea about immigrants
are taking away jobs from Americans
is so common that economists gave it a name.
It's called the Lump of Labor Fallacy,
which is the false notion that there is only so much work
to be done and that no one can get a job
without taking one from someone else.
The problem is that this idea doesn't account for the fact
that when immigrants arrive,
they don't just increase the number of workers.
They also increase demand
for lots of other local goods and services.
They use the money they earn to rent apartments,
eat food, get haircuts, and buy cellphones,
which means there's more jobs building apartments,
giving haircuts, and selling cellphones.
So when more people join the job market,
there's a greater need for goods and services.
But maybe right now, you're thinking,
okay, but what if I really want to work on a farm?
- Well, glad you asked,
because lots of them are hiring.
So you'll work long hours,
get no health insurance,
live far away from any friends and family,
and make the least amount I can pay you.
Can you start Monday?
See, nine out of 10 agriculture workers in California
are foreign born, and more than half
are undocumented immigrants.
But cracking down on illegal immigration
has actually hurt the American farming industry.
This past summer, farmers in California struggled
to hire enough workers to harvest their crops,
which resulted in millions of dollars of lost profit
and higher vegetable prices,
'cause American needed another excuse not to eat vegetables.
- But maybe if a farm could raise their wages
to something more livable,
Americans would be lining up in droves
to work on them, right?
Well, again, that makes a lot of logical sense,
but many farmers argue it'd just be cheaper
and more efficient to turn to robots,
and overall, it won't be long before most farm workers
and well, many manual workers in general
are replaced by machines.
It's projected that 83% of jobs in which people make
less than $20 an hour are now, or will eventually be,
automated, which is something we really
should all worry about,
because it could fundamentally change the economy.
(buzzing)
- Today on Decoded.
Can you be a robot without appropriating human culture?
- But what about jobs going to Mexico?
Aren't those Mexicans taking our jobs, Maritza?
- Well, kinda, but it's less like these guys
taking your job, and more like these guys
giving them your job.
Moving factories to Mexico became easier
because of something called the North American
Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA.
Basically, NAFTA lets the US, Mexico and Canada
trade stuff with one another without paying taxes on it,
which, in theory, was intended to help all of our economies,
reduce prices and make more jobs,
but a lot of companies moved
their decent paying American jobs
to Mexican factories, because labor is cheaper there.
Workers often receive little to no benefits,
and government oversight is weaker.
And for the people who worked in those American factories,
it's tough, because manufacturing jobs
were often a pathway to the middle class.
Trump campaigned against NAFTA as part of his promise
to bring back jobs, which you can agree or disagree with.
The problem was that instead of just being critical
of the politicians who put these agreements in place,
or the men and women in corporate boardrooms
who, you know, actually moved the factories out of the US,
he used his position to stir up racism and xenophobia
towards Mexican people themselves.
- But being mad at the Mexican people who take those jobs
is kinda weird.
For the people in Mexico taking a job in a factory
run by an American car company
is no different than an American taking a job
at a factory run by a Japanese or German car company.
And we can't point our fingers at just NAFTA or Mexico
for the loss of manufacturing jobs
in America over the years.
American manufacturing jobs have moved all over the globe.
Since the 1950s, American factories have been closing
for a number of reasons, including globalization,
currency valuations, economic recession and automation.
- Forgetting the robots will be your doom.
Ha, ha, ha.
- It's complicated issue.
We could talk all day about the many economic policies
and laws that affect American jobs,
but stirring up fear and resentment towards Mexicans
and immigrants in general will never be the solution.
Special thanks for Maritza for helping out today.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time,
right here on Decoded.
(upbeat music)