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Comment by de_Selby | Hacker News Reader

I agree completely with your premise but I don't think you've identified the real issue with immigration and brexit - the real underlying issue is unemployment/underemployment, fallout from the financial crisis, near 0% interest rates etc all combining to leave the poor with next to nothing.

Then they see immigrants arriving around the same time all this is happening and assign the blame to them.

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I can't speak to your other points, but extremely low interest rates are not any kind of impairment to 'the poor,' as they generally do not have much in the way of savings, and benefit from 'cheaper' loans for things like cars or housing.

I agree that there are many reasons behind Brexit aside from immigration. On this point however, this Labour policy to dramatically increase immigration started in 1997.

"the real underlying issue is unemployment/underemployment"

Why is a country that as high unemployment allowing high levels of immigration? Being mad about that seems highly rational to me

Why aren't citizens doing the jobs that immigrants do? That's a more rational question.

Hiring immigrants isn't necessarily cheaper or easier. It's something employers do because they can't fill those jobs otherwise.

"It's something employers do because they can't fill those jobs otherwise."

What if they did something crazy, like offer higher wages to attract employees?

They do. Dishwashing pays well above minimum wage in Minneapolis, for unskilled labor. They struggle to find staff.

To me, that suggests that even though they offer well above minimum wage, they haven't arrived at a fair market value yet.

It's something employers do because they can't fill those jobs... [at the slave wage offered]

That last part is rarely, if ever, mentioned when the "locals won't do these jobs" nonsense gets trotted out.

Or in the case of skilled labor, locals can't do those jobs.

Is the reason there are so many immigrants in IT because the job doesn't pay well enough?

Perhaps it has something to do with the institutionalized abuse of the immigration system in order to import workers who are paid less and are far less likely to leave or demand higher wages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU

The idea that there is a STEM shortage is a bonafide myth. Remember that we're talking about the same industry that perpetuated the largest wage fixing cartel in human history.

It's amazing how many people around here just can't wrap their heads around the fact that increased labor supply means lower wages. You only have to listen to a handful of earnings calls with giant corporations talking with glee about how elastic the labor markets are, and how that will be a huge boon to their earnings.

Immigrants are paid less, work harder to stay here, cannot switch jobs due to H1B visa laws, are happy to be here at all.

Why would people want to immigrate to a country where they can't find work? The answer is that they can find work.

Why can they find work if unemployment is high? I see a few possible answers: 1. Unemployment isn't actually high, 2. Employers are illegally paying immigrants below minimum wage knowing they have no legal recourse, or 3. They are taking jobs that those here are unwilling to take.

How does a crackdown on illegal immigration speak to any of this?

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