Right in the Short Run

To most economists, the answer to the question posed in this post’s title is simple: no.

That’s because economists view jobs as a quantity that is set in the labor market. For a given job, the number of people doing that job will be determined by the supply of labor and the demand of labor. Labor supply is how much labor everyone in the economy is willing to do at all the different wages imaginable, and labor demand is how much work employers in the economy want done for them at all the different wages imaginable.

At some wage rate, the number of people willing to work equals the amount of work employers want to supply. That’s called equilibrium, and the number of people willing to work at this wage will determine the number of jobs in the market.

When someone says that immigrants are doing jobs that Americans just won’t do, they are claiming that American labor supply for a given job is always zero. No matter the wage, no American is willing to get off his behind and do the work. I find it hard to believe that this could be the case for any kind of work, even if the task is extremely dangerous.

A slightly more interesting question is “Are there jobs Americans won’t do at certain wages?” Well the answer to this question is probably yes! Not too many Americans would mine coal for $4 an hour. On the other hand, some immigrants may well be willing to do the job at wages lower than any American’s. At low wages, there are plenty of jobs that immigrants will do that Americans won’t.

Just something to keep in mind when someone trots out the argument that immigration allows us to get jobs done that no domestic resident would be willing to do. Certainly there may be other benefits to immigration, but this is not one of them.

(See also Andrew Samwick)