WASHINGTON – Most undocumented workers from Mexico had jobs there before they entered the United States, according to a report released Tuesday.
That conclusion undercuts a long-held explanation for illegal immigration: that people can’t find work at home. Instead, undocumented Mexican immigrants are driven here by a complex assortment of factors, including higher wages, better working conditions and a chance to reunite with growing networks of families who settled in the United States before them, according to researchers with the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.
“Lack of work does not appear to be the main reason why migrants leave Mexico for the United States,” the report says.
It was based on a survey of 4,836 Mexican immigrants in Dallas; Raleigh, N.C.; Los Angeles; New York; Chicago; Atlanta; and Fresno, Calif. The survey was conducted from July 12, 2004, to Jan. 28, 2005.
This is the latest in a series of reports based on the questionnaire.
An estimated 6.3 million Mexicans are thought to be living illegally in the United States, part of a larger illegal immigrant population in excess of 11 million. At least 3.5 million undocumented Mexicans hold U.S. jobs, constituting about 20 percent of the country’s Hispanic work force.
Undocumented Mexican immigrants traditionally have been portrayed as desperate job seekers without options in their own country. But of the Mexican immigrants surveyed who’d been in the United States for two years, only 5 percent said they were unemployed before venturing north of the border.
The lure of higher wages appears to be a big incentive. Although undocumented Mexican immigrants draw a median income here of only $300 a week – less than half that of U.S. workers – those earnings easily surpass the $100 to $120 average weekly salaries they draw at home.
“You can see people roughly doubling their earnings here,” said Rakesh Kochhar, the Pew center’s associate director for research.
In one notable finding, the researchers said immigration status apparently had little impact on chances for employment in the United States. “Overall, low education levels, weak English-language skills and lack of a U.S. government-issued ID do not seem to pose barriers to finding work in the U.S.,” the report said.
Mexican immigrants have little trouble finding jobs. They rely heavily on tips from friends and relatives in the United States.
Younger, better-educated immigrants sometimes use the Internet, the survey indicates.
The immigrants, the report says, fulfill a “steady and strong demand” from U.S. employers. At least two-thirds find jobs in four industries that traditionally are dependent on migrant labor: agriculture, construction, manufacturing and hospitality.
(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE) Demand often varies by region.
Construction is the dominant industry for hiring migrants in Atlanta, Dallas and Raleigh, compared with manufacturing in Chicago, hospitality in New York and agriculture in Fresno.
Seasonal work often results in long spells of inactivity, but unemployment for illegal immigrants who’ve been in the country at least six months is strikingly low – around 5 percent.
Family ties provide a strong draw for illegal immigrants as well as a source of support once they arrive. At least 80 percent of those surveyed said they had extended family in the United States.
The Pew findings provide new demographic insights for lawmakers as they move toward a possible overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws.
President Bush accelerated the debate last week with a high-profile speech that included a call for an immigrant guest-worker program and tougher controls at the border.
For more information online, go to http://pewhispanic.org.
