Becoming American: Why Immigration Is Good for Our Nation's Future (16 page)

The year 2003 was the centennial of the beginning of Korean immigration to the United States. On January 13, 2003, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation recognizing the centennial and commended Korean Americans for their “important role in building, defending, and sustaining the United States of America.” 
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The second son, Jason, went on to study economics and biology at Duke and has applied his education to his inherent business sense in assisting his mother in the real estate development business.

The youngest, daughter Joann, went to MIT where she studied economics and graduated from Kellogg with her master’s degree in business administration. She initially worked at JPMorgan before moving on to work at McKinsey and Company, and she is now the director of finance and strategy at the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. She married a Chinese American dentist and recently gave birth to a baby girl, much to her parents’ happiness.

The Parks have had a good life, both in and out of the United States. They have attained many professional and personal goals, raised three happy and successful children, and have had a positive impact in their local Korean immigrant church, all the while remaining indirectly involved in the affairs of their ancestral land.

To look at their family portrait, their faces do not convey the depth and breadth of their story and their contributions to life in the United States. Theirs is the classic tale of working hard, of taking full advantage of what their efforts have afforded them, of giving back to their adopted homeland, and of passing these values on to the next generation. The ripple effect of just these five people can be felt deep below the surface. Their story truly exemplifies the American Dream.

NOTES

1. Korean American Historical Society (KAHS), “1903–2003: A Century of Korean Immigration,” May 27–June 20, 2003,
http://www.kahs.org/news-centennial .html
(accessed July 8, 2013).

2. National Association of Korean Americans, “In Observance of Centennial of Korean Immigration to the U.S.,”
http://www.naka.org/resources/history.asp
(accessed July 9, 2013).

3. National Association of Korean Americans, “In Observance.”

4. Korean American Historical Society, “1903–2003: A Century of Korean Immigration.”

5. “Korean-American Population 1910–2010
.
”
Korean-AmericanStory.org
.
http://www.koreanamericanstory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=199&Itemid=134
(accessed July 8, 2013).

6. “Milestones: 1921–1936—The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act,” U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian,
http://history.state.gov/mile stones/1921-1936/ImmigrationAct
(accessed July 8, 2013).

7. Korean American Historical Society, “1903–2003: A Century of Korean Immigration.”

8. “Korean-American Population 1910–2010
.
”

9. “South Korea: Economic and Social Developments,”
Encyclopedia Britannica
,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/322280/South-Korea/34997/Economic-and-social-developments
(accessed July 8, 2013).

10. “South Korea: Economic and Social Developments.”

11. “South Korea: Economy,”
globalEDGEcom
, Michigan State University.
http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/south-korea/economy
(accessed July 8, 2013).

12. Kyeyoung Park,
The Korean American Dream: Immigrants and Small Business in New York City
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997).

13. National Association of Korean Americans, “In Observance.”

12

The Bimodal Nature of Immigrants

A
s we saw earlier, immigrants in the workforce positively impact the U.S. economy through creating new jobs and fulfilling labor force deficits. These shortages are filled because there is little overlap between jobs often taken by the native population and those completed by immigrants. Whereas native borns typically have high school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees, immigrants either typically do not have a high school diploma or they have graduate degrees.
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Whereas native borns typically hold middle-skilled jobs, immigrants typically hold low- and high-skilled jobs.
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There is certainly overlap, but overall, the bimodal nature of immigrants complements the education levels and skill sets of native-born Americans.

Additionally, immigrants and native borns both exercise their comparative advantages, which limits job competition in the areas of overlap. For example, low-skilled Americans are twice as likely to work in office or administrative positions; as native English speakers, they are more likely to possess strong communication skills.
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Immigrants, on the other hand, have a comparative advantage in jobs that require physical strength and stamina. As such, they are twice as likely as low-skilled Americans to fill farming, fishing, and forestry jobs.
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They are also often more willing to do work that is considered dirtier, more difficult, and more dangerous.

As previously noted, another factor limiting competition between American workers and immigrants is geography. While highly educated workers of both parties often move across the country for career opportunities, low-skilled workers are 67 percent more likely to never move out of the state in which they were born.
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Low-skilled immigrants and low-skilled native borns, however, are not evenly spread across the United States. Immigrants live disproportionately in what are known as “immigrant gateway states”: California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.
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Low-skilled Americans are distributed more evenly, with a higher concentration in the Southeast.

In a time when the baby boomer generation is retiring, there will be a need for over fifty million workforce substitutes from 2010 to 2030. Because there is a greater trend of Americans seeking higher forms of education, many native-born citizens will be overqualified for a large proportion of the jobs baby boomers leave. Thus, America will not be able to fill this workforce deficit without the help of immigrants.

Because of all these factors, foreign-born workers are already crucial to many of the United States’ industries, fulfilling low-skilled jobs in the agriculture and food industry, the trucking and transportation industry, the construction industry, and the accommodation industry, among others. As reported by the Brookings Institution, “The U.S. education system does not create large numbers of low-skilled workers: In 2004, just 9 percent of native-born 24-year-olds were high school dropouts. Thus, low-skilled immigrants fill a gap in U.S. labor markets, and industries employing large numbers of low-skilled workers depend heavily on non-citizen immigrant labor.”
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According to the Associated Press, in 2005 there was a deficit of twenty thousand truck drivers. But, with industry growth rates, the shortage has the potential to reach 110,000 drivers by 2014.
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Another issue facing the industry is that many truckers are reaching retirement age, and few people are signing on as replacements. The previous estimate does not even account for the 219,000 drivers who are expected to retire during that time. Additionally, as the American Trucking Association found, there is an astounding turnover rate of current drivers hovering around 90 percent. Most likely, this turnover rate will only increase in future years, especially if the U.S. economy continues to reach healthier levels. The American Trucking Association reported that, “on average, trucking will need to recruit nearly 100,000 new drivers every year to keep up with the demand for drivers.”
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Therefore, many companies are advocating for immigration reform, as they see immigrants as an opportunity to replenish the shortage. Both a guest worker program and a pathway to citizenship for current illegal immigrants may help facilitate the deficit. In fact, legal immigrants already fulfill a proportional percentage of current drivers. As stated by the Associated Press, in 2005, Hispanics accounted for “an estimated one in seven of the nation’s 1.3 million long-haul truckers.” This percentage is equivalent to the proportion of Hispanics overall of the U.S. population.
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In addition to the trucking industry, low-skilled immigrants also fill jobs in the construction industry. As reported by the National Association of Home Builders, about 20 percent or 2.4 million of construction workers are immigrants. Of that 20 percent, over 50 percent are of Mexican descent, while an additional 25 percent arrive from other Latin American countries. Immigrant workers also often fill positions in the construction industry that are not favorable to native-born workers. For example, the top five occupations for foreign-born workers in the construction industry are construction laborers; carpenters; painters, construction, and maintenance; construction managers; and roofers; while the top five jobs for native-born workers are construction managers; carpenters; construction laborers; first-line supervisors/managers of construction trades and extraction workers; and electricians.

Despite immigrant involvement, the construction industry is still facing a labor shortage. According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders, “Construction trades with the most widespread and severe labor shortages are carpenters and roofers, with more than 50 percent of all builders consistently reporting either severe or some shortage of carpenters and more than 40 percent expressing concerns over availability of roofers.”
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It is important to note that, in these two areas, rates of employment for foreign-born workers are above average, therefore indicating their value to the industry. While immigration reform may increase the number of people available to work in the construction industry, it might be more of a detriment to the industry, as it has been found to hire undocumented workers. These workers are often paid much less than their legal counterparts, allowing contractors to keep building prices low. If reform is established and a large number of workers become legal, they will probably request a higher wage, thus increasing the costs of building. But this is up for debate, as making them legal will cause an increase in supply of potential workers, thus lowering the overall cost of projects.

With an estimated 53 percent of the agricultural workforce being fulfilled by undocumented workers, it is clear that the industry relies heavily on immigrants.
¹²
According to Immigration Impact, a project launched by the American Immigration Council to encourage rational conversation on immigration, the industry is currently facing a large worker shortage. As a result, farmers are losing thousands of dollars because their produce is rotting in the fields. Because of this, many are advocating for immigration reform that would legalize current undocumented workers and would provide a system to bring in future workers. For those who argue that immigrants are taking jobs from native-born citizens, a study by the Department of Agriculture found that this is not the case. In fact, immigrants have a positive impact on the industry. As reported by Forbes, “In 2012, the Department of Agriculture looked at the economic impact of cutting low-skilled immigrants by 6 million and found it would reduce Americans’ wages by up to 0.6 percent, or about $90 billion.”
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Additionally, even during times of recession, there is still a shortage of American workers willing to work in the agricultural, food processing, and nursery-landscape industries. Moreover, immigrant workers help to establish additional jobs often filled by native-born workers. For a more explicit example, consider that “Texas AgriLife Research estimated that if federal and labor immigration policies were to result in the loss of just half of the 57,000 foreign-born dairy workers, an additional 66,000 workers would be lost due to the closure of some dairy farms, the resulting multiplier effect of fewer jobs in grain and fertilizer production, veterinary services, milk hauling, and other related service jobs”—totaling an economic loss of $11 billion. Not only would jobs be lost if immigrant workers were not present, but also the industry would have to move to other countries to sustain the demand of American citizens.
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In addition to the agricultural industry, the food and restaurant industry also benefits from the presence of foreign-born workers. According to the Huffington Post, in certain food industries, over half of the employed workers are undocumented workers. Also, it has been found that the population growth rate is not sufficient to fulfill the employment needs of the restaurant industry. Because of this, many involved in the restaurant industry are advocating for immigration reform. As it stands, over one million workers employed in food services are foreign born, and over three hundred thousand workers employed in agricultural services are foreign born.
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