Five million illegal immigrants in the United States may be temporarily shielded from immigration under the executive action announced by Obama on Friday.
What will it mean for wage inflation?
“Business owners who offer their wages good wages benefits see the competition exploit undocumented immigrants by paying them far less,” Obama said.
Five million people — many of them making less than minimum wage — will now be entitled to Social Security cards. On the face of it, that will boost income.
But the flip side is that those people will now be competing at the minimum wage end of the ladder so that could keep wages low there.
In addition, it’s likely that only a small portion of illegal immigrants will take advantage of the program so the net effect will be minimal.
Overall, I can’t see it being a factor.
