> How is it not a scapegoat to say immigration is the cause of flat wages?
Flood your economy with low skilled labor at the same time that average GDP growth is at an all-time low and productivity growth is at an all-time low. See what happens.
If your economy isn't growing fast enough to absorb the amount of low skill labor that you're importing, you're going to considerably depress wages.
In more realistic terms, 1.5% to 2% GDP growth isn't going to get you anywhere. You have a stagnant economy at those growth rates. Finally then the mistake is being made of throwing a lot of new unskilled labor on top of that at exactly the historical time when you need a lot of new unskilled labor the least.
If the labor pool increases in relation to jobs, than yes, he's correct, it will depress wages, that's simple economics. However the blame doesn't lie with the immigrants: you shouldn't be working so simple a job it can be easily taken over by an unskilled worker and expect a decent wage.
When you add an immigrant to the country, it's not just the labor pool that grows - it's also the demand (because every new resident needs housing, food and other services), and that demand translates to jobs.
Flood your economy with low skilled labor at the same time that average GDP growth is at an all-time low and productivity growth is at an all-time low. See what happens.
If your economy isn't growing fast enough to absorb the amount of low skill labor that you're importing, you're going to considerably depress wages.
In more realistic terms, 1.5% to 2% GDP growth isn't going to get you anywhere. You have a stagnant economy at those growth rates. Finally then the mistake is being made of throwing a lot of new unskilled labor on top of that at exactly the historical time when you need a lot of new unskilled labor the least.