Are businesses clamoring for immigration reform?
No. I think it’s not clear what benefits business will get out of it, because business benefits a lot from the status quo, from relatively unlimited access to cheap labor. They may support some compromises, like some versions of the Senate bill that might preempt a more negative bill like the House bill. Does the Senate proposal include anything that will help businesses bring in more skilled workers? Yes, because the guest worker program can be applied to highly educated workers as well. Most economists think this would be good for the U.S. economy, especially if there’s a provision for those workers to stay here permanently. What would happen to the labor market if the Senate bill passes? I don’t think there would be dramatic changes in the labor market. Of the 12 million illegal immigrants that live here, about 7 million work. Their wages would likely rise. Their lives would improve. They would now have some prospects of job mobility. They’d have access to a full array of workplace
