Work ethic of immigrants | Hacker News Reader

Work ethic of immigrants

econlog.econlib.org

12 pointsmathattack11 comments

I interpret it this way... People who fight to come here work hard. I'm not sure if it is due to the difficulty of the trip scaring the lazy, or the relative opportunity, but immigrants drive this country. The first generation works hard. The second works smart. The third works rich. The next blows it all. :-)

Oof. Please remember it is much, much easier to measure something like labor participation rate (which is what the study actually measures) than work ethic (which is the interpretation that the blogger is drawing out of that data). If one group of people is working less than another, it might be because they're lazy and shiftless. It also might be because they're in a different environment, facing a different set of positive and negative reinforcements to hard work.

If you are going to stereotype and collect statistics, why make generalizations of all nationalities?

Why not break down the "work ethic" by country of origin, age, etc.

This whole study is ridiculous. I have a feeling it's not aimed at Canadian immigrants to the USA but instead Mexican.

If that's the case, why don't we help build up Mexican commerce by taking all the stuff we buy/build in China and build up Mexico instead? What if Mexico had the factories that we helped build in China? What if foxconn was in Mexico instead of China?

ps.

the labor-force participation rate of the foreign-born in 2010 was 67.9 percent, compared to the native-born rate of 64.1 percent

Isn't 3% considered a margin of error unless there is a massive amount of data?

Sorry to say it, but your comment is one of the dumbest things I've read in HN.

You have an objection to the study because immigrants are categorized together? Then you choose Mexican immigrants out of a hat and then assume the study is about that specific group. On what basis? Are you saying the sources cited in the group only care a specific subset of immigrants? Or are you alleging that the study must only be about an immigrant group that you have certain preconceptions about?

And that the hell does FoxConn being in Mexico have to do with American immigrant work ethic? You are just not making any sense at all.

Get your ideas and facts straight before posting. Google is your friend for getting facts straight. You cannot have an immigrant study reflect Canadian immigrants because Canadian immigrants make up such a small proportion of all immigrants.

You don't follow how if people coming here to work is seen as a problem, to help make jobs in their country helps us?

I have a problem with anything that says all/most of any kind of people are the same.

Immigrants are not one kind of people with one kind of mentality. Neither are natives.

Oh and I assumed the study was about Mexican immigrants because if you actually read the website, the study is from the Pew Hispanic Center and specifically talks about about Texas immigration. You're welcome to your opinion but I don't appreciate the personal attack.

"People coming here to work is seen as a problem" is precisely what the debate's about. It's not a conclusion.

And how can this be a broad generalization if it's already about immigrants?

"Immigrants are not one kind of people with one kind of mentality." Hmm ok... But what if your data is not partitioned the way you like? Should they still draw conclusions from dta that does not exist?

If you see the actual source PDF document, the sources cited are much more than just Hispanic immigrants.

Oh and Hispanic means a bunch of different countries, not just Mexico. So please don't equate "Spanish speaking" with "must be only from Mexico." Only about half of Hispanic immigrants to the USA come from Mexico.

It's not a personal attack. I have a problem with how you wrote what you wrote, I've written lots of dumb things myself, including my first reply to you.

It should be noted that this is true only to some parts of the world, and more specifically, true only to some nationalities and cultures of immigrants. The situation with immigrants' and lacking work ethics is grave in most of Europe. Grave.

More specifically, to the USA only, if would look at the works cited in the original work, it lists only American data sources.

So, illegal Mexicans shouldn't be on the right-wing agenda this electoral cycle, or am I missing something?

No, the article underscores that laissez-faire economic states allow illegal immigrants to work so that's where they migrate. You do see bizarre coalitions on immigration issues: right wing "open border" types allied with left wing "poor starving masses" champions. That reflects the Bush/Kennedy attempt at amnesty a few years ago. You see left wing labor advocates agreeing with right wing "lower legal immigration rates only" types to restrict the supply of labor and drive American wages up. You think a poor, liberal American black guy wants cheaper labor "taking his job"? I wouldn't describe his agenda as "right wing".

Could you just tell me why Griswold's opinion on the benefits of illegal immigrants over [African-American implied] welfare recipients as they apply to the US economy is subject matter for Hacker News? Relevance?

Wait, don't bother. Econlib/Cato/Griswold/Koch sell kooky theories to the unintelligent to mask their war on poor people. I don't actually take them seriously.

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