The U.S. legal and illegal immigrant population hit a record high of 41.3 million in July 2013, according to a new report released by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
From July 2010 to July 2013, the immigrant population grew by 1.4 million, up a total of 10.2 million since 2000.
And while Mexican immigrants account for the largest immigrant population, at a total of 11.6 million, the biggest increases between 2010 and 2013 actually came from South Asia (up 373,000, 16 percent growth), East Asia (up 365,000, 5 percent), the Caribbean (223,000, 6 percent), and the Middle East (208,000, 13 percent). The largest increases were India and China.
Compared to the rest of the population, the immigrant population comprises 13.1 percent, or about one in eight, the highest percentage in 93 years, the report found. States with the largest increase in growth from 2010 to 2013 were North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Since 1990, the immigrant population has doubled, and has nearly tripled since 1980, according to the report.
Immigration reform remains a hotly debated topic among lawmakers and increasingly high immigration numbers only add fuel to the fire, leaving many wondering how immigration could affect a nation already struggling with high unemployment numbers.
Official U3 unemployment numbers are currently 6.1 percent, but this number excludes a large amount of discouraged workers not currently looking for work, along with those working part-time for economic reasons. When the full U6 numbers are considered, the unemployment rate jumps to around 18 percent.
As of October 2013, 90.6 million Americans over the age of 16 were not working, reported the Wall Street Journal. "That's 10 million above the 80.5 million when President Obama took office."
So how does the unemployment rate relate to an increase in immigrants? It depends on who you ask.
According to a different study released by CIS in July 2013, "All of the net gain in employment over the 13 years has gone to immigrants."
"From the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2013, the number of natives working actually fell by 1.3 million while the overall size of the working-age native population increased by 16.4 million," said CIS. "Over the same time period, the number of immigrants working increased by 5.3 million."
The CIS then proceeds to note that such numbers simply don't support popular political talking points, which claim that the nation does not have enough workers, or that immigration always creates jobs for natives. "The data do not support this conclusion," said the report.
It seems pretty clear cut: more people in a labor force equals more competition and less available jobs even for the most skilled.
But the Brookings Institute and the Hamilton Project claim otherwise, writing in August 2013, "Recent economic research suggests that on average, immigrants raise wages and expand employment opportunities for Americans" by expanding "capacity of American businesses and farms, increasing the responsibility and pay of American foremen and supervisors, and providing expanded opportunities for higher skilled Americans, particularly women, to pursue higher-paying careers."
While most can agree that immigration does make the economy significantly larger, because immigrants often work for less than their American counterparts, it also comes via redistribution of wealth.
Harvard economist George Borjas wrote in 2013 that immigration will redistribute income by "lowering the wages of competing American workers and increasing the wages of complementary American workers, as well as profits for business owners and other 'users' of immigrant labor. Although the overall net impact on the native-born is small, the loss or gain for particular groups of the population can be substantial."
Immigration numbers can be beneficial to business owners and users of immigrant labor, but Borjas argues that native-born Americans have also lost, "and these losers likely include a disproportionate number of the poorest Americans."
