Immigration is a topic of liquid currency right now. It is in the news because it has become synonymous with globalization in emphasis mainly, because of the association some have drawn between it and the rising numbers of political and economic refugees seeking entrance into developed countries on the one hand, and international terrorism on the other. However, Briggs Jr in his book "Immigration and American Unionism" tells us that "immigration ... continues ... to affect the developmental course of American trade unionism, and labor's responses ... have influenced the policies that have shaped the nature and scope of immigrant entries" (p. 1).
A dilemma for labor unions is that immigration brings with it competition. The benefits, as are the costs, of high immigration vary both in terms of magnitude and distribution. For example, increased competition lowers product prices, but product prices are declining because wages are falling, too. Of equal importance but opposite sign, high immigration represents opportunities for union members. In this book Briggs describes the inverse "state of American unions" and "prevailing immigration trends" (p. 3). Immigration policy is discretionary policy, so that its effects, like those of technological change, demographic change, and socio-cultural shocks are changes that cause even more and far-reaching changes.
The book reviews historical changes related to (correlation) and/or induced by (causation) immigration going back to the 1780s. It is made up of seven chapters, excluding the Introduction and Conclusions. Each chapter starts with "the setting," outlining the stage prevailing at the time, and ends with "Consequences," associated with that setting. The general conclusions of the books are well supported by the data. Both the numbers (people) and their effects on worker wages are by far smaller today than they were in the past. For example, between 1790 and 1905, the percentage of foreign-born union members was lower than that of native union members. Foreign-born union members outpaced home-born between 1930 to-date, but while the former is falling rapidly, the latter is increasing quickly also. The effect on wages have been nearly the same. It seems rather obvious that technological change is a better benefit and cost for host workers than immigration.
I highly recommend this book, especially to policy makers during these contentious times when facts and fake news are in fierce competition for attention. I think Goethe may be correct that for any lack of fact a word can be made up as a substitute, he may be incorrect because fact and fiction tell dissimilar stories.
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