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cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td>  <div id="wrap"> <div id="header"><h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/">Behind the Numbers: The PRB blog on population, health, and the environment</a></h1></div> <div class="hr"></div> <div class="hr2"></div> <div class="left"> <h2 class="widgettitle">Authors</h2> <ul> <li class="widget widget_authors"> <ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/?author=25" title="Posts by Ashley Frost">Ashley Frost</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/?author=4" title="Posts by Bill Butz">Bill Butz</a> (9)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/?author=6" title="Posts by Carl Haub">Carl Haub</a> (6)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/?author=11" title="Posts by Charlie Teller">Charlie Teller</a> (7)</li><li><a 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Immigration may be part of a solution, reducing the old-age dependency and helping to reduce the deficit of the Social Security program (see <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.ssab.gov/documents/IMMIG_Issue_Brief_Final_Version_000.pdf " target="_blank">Social Security Advisory Board’s estimate of reduction</a>). In <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.judiciary.house.gov/hearings/March2007/Myers070330.pdf" target="_blank">his work</a>, Myers estimates that feasible levels of immigration could reduce the old-age dependency ratio by 25 percent. Both Myers and Reich in their <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/04/08/pm-letters-demography-q/" target="_blank">NPR interviews </a>suggest that the policy solutions for Social Security should include immigration.</p> <p>However, research suggests that increased immigration may have drawbacks for vulnerable populations that other policy options do not. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/gborjas/fullbio.html" target="_blank">George Borjas </a>and other scholars provide evidence that immigration is most likely to hurt low-income workers. (For information on immigrant characteristics, see <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/lmi_recessionJan09.pdf" target="_blank">MPI report on immigrants and recession</a>, and for a readable account of Borjas’ argument see NYT Magazine contributor Roger Lowenstein’s article “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.econ.brown.edu/fac/Rachel_Friedberg/Links/The%20Immigration%20Equation%20-%20New%20York%20Times.htm" target="_blank">The Immigration Equation</a>”) If one accepts the premise that immigrants reduce job opportunities for low-income workers, particularly visible minorities—a big if —then a solution that includes high levels of immigration might well affect the Social Security earnings of low-income and minority workers. This is because individuals’ eligibility for and level of Social Security benefits are tied to their earnings history.</p> <p>Teasing out the effect of policy on different population groups is always difficult. And certainly many economists would argue that to the extent immigrant workers contribute to small business growth and spend their earnings in the United States, they may ultimately increase job opportunities. In any case, other policy options such as raising the Social Security payroll tax or changing the rules so that high earners pay Social Security taxes on all earnings, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/cbb.html" target="_blank">not just the first $106,800</a>, do not disproportionately affect low-income workers. Also, let’s not forget that part of the equation for Social Security solvency is the labor force participation rate. Increases in women’s labor force participation rates had a positive impact on labor force growth, thereby increasing contributions paid into Social Security. Certainly even with the same old-age dependency ratio, if women’s labor force participation rates had not risen over the previous four decades, the Social Security financing gap would be larger. But these rates have stabilized, and the women who helped fuel economic growth will be among those collecting Social Security in the next 30 years.</p> <p>A high rate of labor force participation among immigrants is one of the reasons that more immigration might work as part of the answer to the gap in Social Security funding. Higher labor force participation rates among native-born minorities also have the potential to increase growth of the labor force and future contributions to Social Security, just as increased female labor force participation did. But, this potential solution is not often mentioned in the current debate, perhaps because it is not perceived to be as easy to achieve as expanding immigration.</p> <br/> <p> <small> <span> You can follow any responses to this entry through the</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/?feed=rss2&p=120">RSS 2.0</a> <span>feed.</span> <span>You can </span><a href="#respond">leave a response</a>, <span>or</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/wp-trackback.php?p=120" rel="trackback">trackback</a> <span>from your own site.</span> </span></small> </p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=120&title=Social Security Immigration Solution Has Drawbacks For Low-Income Workers" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div>   <div class="comments"><h3>Leave a Reply</h3></div> <form action="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform"> <p><input type="text" name="author" id="author" value="" size="22" tabindex="1"/> <label for="author"><small>Name (required)</small></label></p> <p><input type="text" name="email" id="email" value="" size="22" tabindex="2"/> <label for="email"><small>Mail (will not be published) (required)</small></label></p> <p><input type="text" name="url" id="url" value="" size="22" tabindex="3"/> <label for="url"><small>Website</small></label></p>  <p><textarea name="comment" id="comment" cols="60%" rows="10" tabindex="4"></textarea></p> <p><input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" tabindex="5" value="Submit Comment"/> <input type="hidden" name="comment_post_ID" value="120"/> </p> </form> <div class="alignleft">« <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/?p=112" rel="prev">Immigration Numbers Do Not Add Up to an Easy Social Security Solution</a></div> <div class="alignright"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://prbblog.org/?p=127" rel="next">PRB Women’s Edition at the Women Deliver Conference: The Changemakers</a> »</div> </div> </td></tr></table></center>  <br/><br/> <div align="center"> <div align="center" id="ftr"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646im_/http://www.prb.org/images/footer2.gif" width="3" height="23" align="right"/><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646im_/http://www.prb.org/images/footer1.gif" width="3" height="23" align="left"/><span class="footertext">Services: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.prb.org/Home/EmailSignup.aspx">Get E-Mail News</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.prb.org/Join.aspx">Join/Renew Membership</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.prb.org/Donate.aspx">Donate</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.prb.org/Bookstore.aspx">Bookstore</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.prb.org/Home/Contact.aspx">Contact</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.prb.org/SpanishContent.aspx">Español</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.prb.org/FrenchContent.aspx">Français</a></span></div> <span class="footer2text"><b>Copyright 2007, Population Reference Bureau.</b> All rights reserved. • <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/http://www.prb.org/Home/Privacy.aspx">Privacy Policy</a></span><br/> <span class="footer2text">1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW • Suite 520 • Washington, DC 20009-5728 • USA <br/> <b>Phone:</b> 800-877-9881 • <b>Fax:</b> 202-328-3937 • <b>E-mail:</b> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100725155646/mailto:popref@prb.org">popref@prb.org</a></span><br/> </div>  </div>  <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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