Immigrants integral to state (Ne) economy (9% meat processing, construction and food services)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10460283

Published Wednesday October 15, 2008
Immigrants integral to state economy
BY CINDY GONZALEZ
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

If immigrants vanished and weren't replaced in three of its key industries, Nebraska would lose 78,000 jobs, including some filled by U.S.-born workers.



Production throughout the state would drop nearly 9 percent, or by $13.5 billion.

Hardest-hit financially would be rural communities and sectors that deal in meat processing, construction and food services.

Those were among the major findings of a new University of Nebraska at Omaha economic impact analysis sponsored by the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies in conjunction with UNO economist Christopher Decker and UNO demographer Jerry Deichert.

The 37-page report looks at first-generation immigrants but does not distinguish between those here legally and illegally — a concern of local policymakers struggling to address illegal immigration.

"I'm weary and wary of all these studies," said State Sen. Brad Ashford, an Omaha senator who is leading an effort in the Legislature to address illegal immigration. "Because we have a lack of information on the undocumented, it's hard to assess the impact."

Decker, a UNO economist and the primary researcher, said the report's findings are just a "piece of the larger debate." While based on standard economic models, the study is limited to census demographic data that does not ask about legal status.

FULL story at link.

[Duke Newcombe]

1. The first sentence brings FAIL to the story.

With the rampant unemployment, and the living wages these businesses would have to pay American workers (businesses that are big Republican beneficiaries of a blind eye towards immigration reform), those jobs would not go begging for long.

As my dad would have said, "IF Grandma had balls, she'd be Grandpa."