Lit Review

Title: The Economic Impact of Illegal Aliens

Author: Susan Ladika

According to her  personal website, Susan Ladika says, "I've been a writer and editor for 25 years, getting my grounding at newspapers and a wire service, both in the United States and Europe. My freelance work has covered everything from business to travel to science to international issues, and just about anything in between. My articles have appeared in such publications as Science, Town & Country, HR Magazine, Developer, The Wall Street Journal-Europe, The San Francisco Chronicle, and many others. I've also done extensive editing as a newspaper and wire service editor, as well as for international institutions, and have a particular knack for editing text written by non-native English speakers." (susanladika.com)

Citation:

Ladika, Susan. 2006. "The Economic Impact of Illegal Aliens." HR Magazine 51, no. 10: 58-59. Business Abstracts with Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2013).

Summary:

Susan Ladika relates illegal immigration to the American workforce and states facts on how working illegals benefit our economy. She takes the stance that the jobs that illegal immigrants take are not jobs that educated Americans strive to obtain, especially in current times compared to the past. She also asserts that illegals pay taxes and pay into social security which they cannot collect, so ultimately they are helping American tax payers who will collect on the social security eventually. Ladika's main assertion is that if illegals were legalized (which is what the DREAM Act aims to ultimately achieve) they could spend more money into the economy on items that only Americans can substantially contribute to. 

Quotes:

“America’s population is becoming better educated, so many turn their backs on low paid, low skilled jobs. Illegal Immigrants typically compete for jobs against Americans who lack a high school diploma. Griswold says half of US workers in the 1960s had no diploma, while today it’s at 10 percent” (58)

“. . . illegal workers pay between 7 billion and 10 billion annually into social security—money they never collect” (58)

“Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group in Washington, DC, says illegal immigrants also pay sales taxes and possibly property taxes. And she predicts that legalizing their status would have a huge impact on the economy. Once people are able to come out from ‘the shadows,’ she says, they could spend more money on houses, cars, and education.”

Key Terms:

social security- illegals cannot collect on social security because they are not citizens, but they can still contribute to it.

low skilled jobs- jobs that illegal immigrants can take because they lack education requirements