Did We Learn from the Great Recession?

As was the case in the Great Depression, Great Recession foreign-born employment levels also achieved 15% of employment. The Great Recession was preceded by two attempts at "Comprehensive Immigration Reform," a lobbying effort aimed squarely at labor-arbitrage. Additionally, US housing had become unaffordable through demand related inflation, and the mortgage industry had taken on an exuberant casino-style atmosphere.

 Ultimately, the salary requirement necessary to service housing obligations inflated beyond globally competitive levels and with the job creation engine already in distress, millions were laid-off. In the aftermath, working-age (16 to 65) employment levels for the first decade of 2000s, increased by only 1 million, while the non-institutionalized, working-age population grew by 22 million.

State Financial Distress: Measuring The Impact of Immigration

Foreword:
Defining the costs of immigration is difficult because immigration is not binary (on/off), there appears to be a diminishing point of return where economic benefit from immigration is concerned.

Mass immigration has been used as a price-control on wages and a demand driver for housing inflation. According to the Census, the foreign born in the labor force was 15% as the beginning of the Great Depression and had also reached 15% in 2007.

In the Great Recession, Census data shows that homeownership rates (Excel) have declined  2.5%. The Great Depression was the only other time where homeownership rates (-4%) have had such declines since 1900. (Source U.S. Census) (Update: Great Recession homeownership rates have now fallen over 4%)

In their attempt to create yet another economic bubble, economists, researchers and business leaders are promoting immigration increases in the media. These decision makers, and their apologists, are coming to the realization that a more highly educated immigrant may be more productive than migrant laborers. However, many decision makers still refuse to acknowledge a displacement factor in employment and housing opportunities for established Americans.

The pro-immigration faction is contorting data and bending over backwards to deny that immigration has any detrimental effect on U.S. States, citizens and permanent residents. This paper will simply group available data that indicates a characteristic of the fiscal health of each State. The fiscal health ranking data (Appendix A) consists of "Housing Foreclosures", "High School Graduation Rates", "State Budget Overruns" and official "Unemployment Rates". The States are ranked and sorted from best performing to worst, this ranking score is directly compared with U.S. Census, “Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force” data.

Table 1: Data is sorted by the state’s fiscal health ranking

	Data Used to Determine Fiscal Rank of Individual States (Data Sorted by Fiscal Ranking)				Not included in ranking - comparison only
Fifty States and District of Columbia	Foreclosure Rate: 1 Foreclosure per X units	High School Graduation Rate	State Overbudget: Total Gap as % of FY2010 Budget	Unemployment Rate: Average 2010-2011	Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force
Avg. States Above 50th Percentile	2971	79.3%	1.8%	7.3%	8.1%
Mean (50th Percentile) Hawaii	513	75.4%	2.5%	6.4%	20.6%
Avg. States Below 50th Percentile	752	70.6%	2.9%	9.9%	13.0%

When we compare the Foreign Born Employed in the Labor force to the fiscal health rankings, we see a 4.9% lower average foreign born in states that are performing better than those below the Mean. 


Table 1: In the States where the fiscal health is the group above the median we see:

• the occurrence of housing foreclosures in demonstrably lower
• the average High School Graduation Rate is 8.7% higher
• the average of State budget overruns are 1.1% lower 
• the average Unemployment rate is 2.6% lower
• Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force is 4.9% lower

Table 2: Data is sorted by the foreign born ranking

	Data Used to Determine Fiscal Rank of Individual States (Data Sorted by Foreign Born Ranking)				Not included in ranking - comparison only
Fifty States and District of Columbia	Foreclosure Rate: 1 Foreclosure per X units	High School Graduation Rate	State Overbudget: Total Gap as % of FY2010 Budget	Unemployment Rate: Average 2010-2011	Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force
Avg. States Above 50th Percentile	2409	77.6%	1.8%	7.9%	4.7%
Mean (50th Percentile) Minnesota	817	86.5%	2.3%	7.1%	7.5%
Avg. States Below 50th Percentile	1302	71.9%	2.9%	9.3%	17.0%

(Sorted by Foreign Born, Minnesota becomes the Mean with a fiscal ranking of 11th)

Table 1: demonstrates that the States that are performing better than those in the lower Mean, also have consistently lower rates of Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force. Table 1: and Table 2: demonstrate that States with lower averages of Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force. On average, these States have better fiscal outcomes, lower foreclosure rates, lower unemployment rates and better high school graduation rates.

Table 2: When sorting the data by Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force:

• the occurrence of housing foreclosures is demonstrably lower
• the average High School Graduation Rate is 5.5% higher
• the average of State budget overruns are again 1.1% lower 
• the average Unemployment rate is 1.4% lower 
• Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force is 12.3% lower

Examining the Pro-immigration arguments for more immigration…

“Immigrants will buy homes and cure the foreclosure crisis.”

The statement is patently false, employment displacement from immigration has compounded the foreclosure crisis.  Data in Table 1: and Table 2: indicate that states with high immigration rates have foreclosure rates at least twice as high as low immigration states.  Displacing more American workers with High Skill business related immigrants will further destroy home-equity through an inability to maintain the mortgage.  

“We need to fix the educational system, but until then we need immigrants to fill employment demands.”

First, there is no employment demand, in the last decade, employment levels only rose by 2 million, yet the Census shows that 6.9 million immigrants found employment. Second, Table 1: and Table 2: demonstrate that higher immigration levels are associated with lower High School Graduation Rates.

“Immigrants are a net benefit and do not use excessive government services.”

This statement may be true, but Americans displaced by legal and illegal immigrants are eligible for government safety-net services.  The services that immigrants consume are only a portion of the financial impact. Table 1: and Table 2: demonstrate that higher immigration levels are associated with State over-budget conditions.

“Immigrants create employment rather than displacing U.S. citizens and permanent residents.”

Table 1: and Table 2: demonstrate that higher levels of immigration are associated with Higher Unemployment rates during a recovery period. Civilian Population Survey data indicates that immigrants caused a net loss in the meager employment level growth of the last decade. (See Prior Post)

“If we don’t allow them to work here, they will go home and use their education to compete against us!”

If this statement isn’t "protectionism", I may not have a firm understanding of the meaning of the word. If sending educated foreign students home is a problem, maybe we should stop educating these competitors.

Methodology:

By taking the fiscal characteristics of each state, and ranking the results, we have a built-in laboratory to examine the outcome of our recent experiment in elevating the percentage of foreign born in the labor force. Referencing the Great Depression, the experiment of elevating the percentage of foreign born in the labor force has failed before, with similar results.

Financial health data is available for each of the state jurisdictions and the District of Columbia, this financial health data is “ranked” by state. The following categories are ranked and then compared separately to a ranking of foreign born in the labor force data.

The data is the most recent available and slight variations in the periods are inconsequential because we are measuring the outcome of U.S. Immigration policy and the effect on the State’s ability to provide employment, housing and services.

State Financial Health Data:

• Foreclosures – number of foreclosures per X number of housing units (December 2010)
• H.S. Graduation – State graduation rates for the 2006-07 school year (latest available)
• State Budget Shortfall – 2010 budget shortfall data.
• Unemployment – A State average of 2010 and 2011 unemployment statistics to Sept. 2011

The State Financial Health Data: represents responsibilities that we expect from our State Governments and comparing these data on a state by state data demonstrates where financial problems exist.

Scoring System: Each State Financial Health Data: category is aggregated into a State Fiscal Rank, where “ties” exist the data the numbering system contains identical rankings at that level and the total ranking for the category is reduced to account for the tie. The rankings are then totaled and divided by four, to reduce the weight of any categories that contain “ties”.

State Fiscal Rank: The four categories for State Financial Health Data are aggregated to find the Financial Rank. Due to ties, the Financial Rank aggregate category contains ranking from 1 to 47.

Foreign Born in the Labor Force Data: The foreign born in the labor force data was released in 2009 and contains data collected for 2007. (Foreign born data holds no weight in State Fiscal Rankings.)

Source Data:

State Budget Shortfalls:
Kaiser Family Foundation / statehealthfacts.org
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemapreport.jsp?rep=49&cat=1

Unemployment Data by State:

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)
http://www.bls.gov/lau/

Data extracted on: December 20, 2011 (12:09:44 AM)

Unadjusted data Jan. 2010 through Sept. 2011 (excludes preliminary data)

Foreign Born Employed in the Labor Force:
Appendix Table A.
Employed Civilian Foreign-Born Labor Force by State: 2007
www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/acs-09.pdf

Foreclosure Rate:
Kaiser Family Foundation / statehealthfacts.org

Represents the number of foreclosures filed for every X housing units during the month of December 2010. A foreclosure is a legal procedure by which mortgaged property is sold, upon default, in order to satisfy a debt. Foreclosures generally are governed by state law, and rules may vary between states.
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=649&cat=1

High School Graduation Rates:

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 1986-87 through 2007-08; The Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate for Public High Schools From the Common Core of Data: School Years 2002-03 and 2003-04; and Projections of Education Statistics to 2017. (This table was prepared September 2009.)

Appendix A:

Ranking table sorted by rank (Immigration is not a component of "Financial Rank" -- comparison only.)

State	Foreclosure rate 1 per x housing units	High School	State Overbudget	Unemployment Rate	Immigration	Financial Rank	FR Ties
North Dakota	10805	83.1%	0.00%	3.7%	2.4%	1
Nebraska	2839	86.3%	0.92%	4.5%	6.4%	2
South Dakota	1943	82.5%	0.43%	4.8%	1.9%	3
Montana	1692	81.5%	0.00%	7.4%	1.7%	4
Vermont	20841	88.5%	2.83%	5.9%	3.5%	5
Wyoming	3080	75.8%	0.18%	6.5%	3.4%	6
Iowa	842	86.5%	2.26%	6.1%	4.5%	7	Tie
Maryland	1427	80.0%	2.03%	7.3%	15.7%	7	Tie
Massachusetts	1669	80.8%	2.04%	8.2%	17.0%	8
West Virginia	7642	74.8%	0.82%	8.9%	14.3%	9
New Hampshire	1324	81.7%	2.86%	5.7%	5.6%	10
Minnesota	817	86.5%	2.27%	7.1%	7.5%	11
Pennsylvania	1153	83.0%	2.36%	8.3%	6.3%	12
Maine	2351	78.5%	2.80%	7.8%	3.5%	13
Wisconsin	692	88.5%	2.37%	8.0%	5.1%	14
Oklahoma	1086	77.8%	2.84%	6.5%	6.7%	15	Tie
Connecticut	1288	81.8%	2.70%	9.1%	15.9%	15	Tie
Kansas	1148	78.8%	3.39%	6.9%	7.4%	16
Kentucky	1934	76.4%	1.45%	10.2%	3.4%	17	Tie
Virginia	968	75.5%	2.41%	6.6%	13.6%	17	Tie
Missouri	840	81.9%	2.27%	9.3%	4.3%	18
Arkansas	658	74.4%	0.91%	7.9%	5.4%	19
Texas	860	71.9%	1.07%	8.2%	20.6%	20
Delaware	891	71.9%	1.82%	8.3%	9.5%	21
District of Columbia	5488	54.8%	1.30%	10.0%	16.9%	22
Tennessee	1060	72.6%	1.21%	9.7%	5.3%	23	Tie
Hawaii	513	75.4%	2.52%	6.4%	20.6%	23	Tie
Indiana	779	73.9%	1.06%	9.5%	4.9%	24
Ohio	483	78.7%	1.39%	9.6%	4.2%	25
Utah	284	76.6%	2.21%	7.6%	10.3%	26
Alaska	1448	69.0%	2.89%	7.8%	9.5%	27
Idaho	309	80.4%	2.24%	9.4%	7.2%	28
New York	3042	68.9%	3.88%	8.3%	27.0%	29
New Mexico	765	59.1%	1.82%	8.0%	11.7%	30	Tie
New Jersey	718	84.4%	4.00%	9.4%	25.6%	30	Tie
Louisiana	1059	61.3%	2.78%	7.6%	4.2%	31
Colorado	420	76.6%	2.38%	8.8%	11.6%	32
Washington	693	74.8%	2.32%	9.4%	14.3%	33
Mississippi	1238	63.5%	1.93%	10.4%	2.6%	34	Tie
Alabama	1105	67.1%	2.37%	9.5%	3.9%	34	Tie
North Carolina	1398	68.6%	2.62%	10.3%	9.1%	35
Michigan	282	77.0%	1.58%	11.7%	7.1%	36
Rhode Island	870	78.4%	3.48%	11.3%	15.5%	37
Illinois	376	79.5%	4.37%	9.8%	17.8%	38
South Carolina	682	58.9%	2.15%	10.8%	5.5%	39
Oregon	583	73.8%	3.24%	10.3%	12.3%	40
Georgia	365	64.1%	2.88%	10.2%	12.1%	41
Florida	343	65.0%	2.85%	11.3%	23.8%	42
Arizona	201	69.6%	6.50%	9.7%	19.5%	43
California	203	70.7%	5.28%	12.2%	34.9%	44
Nevada	84	52.0%	4.68%	14.1%	25.2%	45

Suggestions for the Occupy Wall Street 99ers

Update: Very pleased to see this video posted by a 99er supporter
End update:

A few things the 99ers should consider.

1.) Support Ron Paul's Competing Currency Bill HR 1098. "Legal money" has been eliminated in the U.S., the currency we have now is non-redeemable Federal Reserve Notes and coinage with no intrinsic value. A roll of pre-1965 silver dimes, in metallic value would buy 30 gallons of gasoline today.



2.) Eliminate Corporate Personhood, if a corporation must lobby the government, it should do so through its shareholders and employees who have U.S. voting rights.

3.) Audit the Federal Reserve (corporation). If the U.S. Treasury is no longer the primary shareholder of the Federal Reserve, remove the Federal Reserve’s privilege to print/create U.S. debt obligations.

4.) Restore Glass Steagall and Bankruptcy protection for primary residences, currently second home mortgages can be negotiated through bankruptcy courts, but primary residence mortgages may not.

5.) Robo-signing foreclosure fraud is not a victimless crime -- it is still fraud. State courts should entertain Adverse Possession cases against all banks that cannot provide clear title. If the bank cannot prove that the it had title at the time the homeowner stopped making payments, the homeowner should from his/her evidence of property tax and maintenance records have legal recourse against the banks who have forever clouded the title on their property.

The secret to a successful retirement is a home that is paid for.

6.) Eliminate the “Social Security Wage Base” which is capped at $106,800.00 per year. Social Security (and apparently Medicare) contributions are exempt on wages above the $106,800.00 threshold. This is clearly a subsidy for those who benefit the most from the U.S. infrastructure.

7.) Eliminate Temporary Worker visas, these visas are labor market interference. Wage stagnation caused by labor oversupply, coupled with U.S. currency devaluation has destroyed America's ability to save, purchase homes and prosper. In the first decade of the 2000’s, employment levels only rose by 1 million in the 16 through 64 age group, while the population grew by 22 million. Another 2.2 million jobs went to those in the 65 and older age group.

7.1) Businesses want open borders, except where the U.S. taxpayer funded U.S. Customs Department detects and confiscates counterfeit goods and illicit copies of Intellectual Property.

7.2) Colleges want open borders, except State borders where they are allowed to charge much higher “Out of State” tuition fees.

7.3) A full 20% of college degreed immigrants are underutilized, working as cab drivers, nannies and dishwashers. Meanwhile, we are asking our kids to assume $80,000 in basically non-dischargeable debt for an undergraduate degree, only to then be required to compete against foreign nationals whose first college loan is for a (U.S.) postgraduate degree.

7.4) There are 5 million college degreed Americans and permanent residents who are also underutilized.

8.) Eliminate the Second Home Mortgage Interest Deduction. Liberal immigration policy requires affordable housing for new immigrants and upward housing options for citizens, this tax subsidy reduces the available inventory of available housing, and combined with mass immigration, is a driving factor in creating housing bubbles. Additionally, these homes can be used as a tax dodge, i.e. rented out for Corporate Board meetings etc.

Lots of second-home buyers rent their property part of the year to get others to help pay the bills. Very different tax rules apply depending on the breakdown between personal and rental use. If you rent the place out for 14 or fewer days during the year, you can pocket the cash tax-free. Even if you're charging $10,000 a week, the IRS doesn't want to hear about it. The house is considered a personal residence, so you deduct mortgage interest and property taxes just as you do for your principal home.

The Housing Vacancy Permit: Vacant and blighted housing is a real problem that municipalities must address, destroying these homes would be an unconscionable waste of natural resources and withholding these houses from the market with taxpayer financing (TARP and other) is a moral hazard. The Housing Vacancy Permit would address municipal costs associated with vacant properties, inspections, policing, maintenance etc., before these homes become blighted.

There are 30 million renters in the United States, introducing the vacant housing inventory to the rental market could substantially reduce rental housing costs. A reduction of $200.00 per month, for each renter would introduce $6,000,000,000.00 discretionary spending into the economy each month. A reduction of $500.00 per month would equate to $180 Billion of redirected spending per year.

The goal of the Housing Vacancy Permit is to return vacant properties to the occupied inventory either through sale or rent. A short grace period for sale or rent would be allowed before Vacancy fees (double the property tax?) would commence, and if the property cannot be sold, it must be rented/occupied to avoid these Vacancy fees. Returning these homes to their useful purpose at the local level could defeat the Federal effort to keep these homes from being re-introduced into the for sale/rent inventory.

A reduction in housing costs would make U.S. workers more competitive globally, as rents and principal paid for housing is taxable at the State and Federal levels. Lower housing costs could also lower salary requirement and tax burden to U.S. workers.

The second best outcome for vacant housing today would be for the local municipalities to seize vacant homes through tax lien and reintroduce them into the for-sale or for-rent inventory at fire-sale bargains before they become blighted.

The Assault on the LAND of Liberty:

Economics is said to be the “The Study of Scarcity.” The Classic Economists were keenly aware of population’s effect on wages and rents; population is something neo-economists rarely acknowledge. For the last thirty years, economists like Greenspan have endorsed a policy of making labor plentiful and housing scarce.

As the U.S. currency has slowly been debased, moving away from gold and silver backed Securities, the smart money moved from Bonds and Currency to Real property; further, lobbyists and politicians found ways to inflate real property.  Ultimately, since the currency in neither backed by gold or silver, the U.S. Currency is now backed by land under our feet, we are witnessing the foreclosure upon the Land of Liberty.

How much immigration is too much immigration?

"He [David Ricardo] posited that the growth of population and capital, pressing against a fixed supply of land, pushes up rents and holds down wages and profits." (Wikipedia: Economics)

After decades of employment growth at above 80 percent of labor force growth, employment growth has fallen below 5 percent for working age adults entering the labor force. Yet, 600,000 skilled temporary workers are added to the labor force annually, and the Bureau of Census reports that there were 12.88 million foreign born non-citizens employed in the U.S. in 2007.  In the first decade of the 21st century, only 1 million jobs were added to the working age population.

Immigration has deleterious and advantageous effects to the U.S. economy, nobody is suggesting that the U.S. should have a zero immigration policy, but how much immigration is too much immigration?

Just like the native born, the foreign born require employment, housing and government services. Most of the immigration debate is at the macro level because Congress reserves right to set immigration policy, this paper takes a look at the levels of foreign-born employment by each State and how those States are performing economically.

Displayed in the images below are the "Worst 10" States and the "Best 10" States, by ranking, based upon the following criteria:

Highest percent of foreign-born employed in labor force by State
Highest foreclosure rate by State
Highest unemployment rate by State
Highest percent state spending over budget by State
(For these columns the worst score is 1 (1st) -- the best score is 50 (50th))
(In the "Score" column, the four grades are aggregated for scoring, a perfect score would be 200)

click images to enlarge

10 Worst performing States in U.S.

10 Best performing States in U.S.

Sometimes, the best way to evaluate policy is to see which States are doing the right things and which States are doing the wrong things. The states doing wrong things financially have pervasively high rates of foreign-born in the labor force.

10 worst performing States: Employed Foreign born in labor force (ranking)
Nevada = 4th
California = 1st
Florida = 5th
Arizona = 8th
Illinois = 9th
New Jersey = 3rd
Georgia = 17th
Rhode Island = 13th
Oregon = 16th
Idaho = 26th

On the other hand, the states with the least financial difficulties have predominately lower percentages of foreign-born employment.

10 best performing States: Employed Foreign born in labor force (ranking)
Oklahoma = 28th
Louisiana = 40th
Iowa = 37th
Nebraska= 29th
West Virginia = 49th
Vermont = 42nd
South Dakota = 48th
Wyoming = 44th
Montana = 50th
North Dakota = 47th (the most fiscally responsible state in the nation)

If you are inclined to disagree with me, you could stop reading and label me a racist, but try to understand that the needs of the foreign-born population are different than population growth through birthrate. Migrants arrive with employment and housing needs on the very first day. It’s as if we had another baby-boom, except all of those kids needed employment and separate housing on the day they were born. With native children, the economy has 18 years to adjust to their growing needs; with migration the economic equilibrium is shocked, housing cost spiral upward while demand for labor wanes.

Similarities to the Great Depression:

The only hiccup in the growth of the home ownership rate in the entire last century was during the Great Depression. In the 1940 Census, the home ownership rate fell to 43.6% from 47.8% listed in the previous census (-4.2%).  Since 2005, the home ownership rate has fallen 2 percentage points nationally.

Home Ownership rates 2005 Q1
United States 69.1
Northeast 65.4
Midwest 73.1
South 71.1
West 64.9

Home Ownership rates 2010 Q1
United States 67.1 (-2.0%)
Northeast 64.4 (-1.0%)
Midwest 70.9 (-2.2%)
South 69.2 (-1.9%)
West 61.9 (-3.0%)

Source: Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey,
Series H-111 Reports, Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC 20233.


Home ownership Rates: 1900 to 2000

Prior to the Great Depression, immigration rates to the United States doubled (see post), in 1900 and 1910, the percentage of foreign born in the labor force exceeded 20%. Since 1980, the number of foreign born in the labor force has roughly quadrupled, from 7.1 million to 23.9 million in 2007.

Much like the “DotCom” recession preceded the Mortgage meltdown recession, the Great Depression was preceded by the Depression of 1920-1921. In 2007, the year of the Mortgage meltdown, the percentage of foreign born in the labor force reached the levels of the Great Depression at over 15%.

The most productive decades in the United States
had low impact from immigration.

Factoid:

2007 Foreign Born
U.S. Labor Force = 23,838,000 (15.6%)
Employed = 22,538,000 (94.5%)

2007 Native Born
U.S. Labor Force = 128,373,000
Employed = 120,050,000 (93.5%)
http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/acs-10.pdf

May 2010 (Foreign and Native born)
U-6 Unemployment = 39,424,834 (16.6%)
U-3 Unemployment = 23,037,403 (9.7%)
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

High-skilled temporary foreign labor, Housing and Education

I’ve documented in other blog entries that there is no labor shortage and H-1B and L-1 non-immigrant workers assume more than 100% of employment growth in Computer-related occupations. (And here)

There is no need for the H-1B, nor L-1 non-immigrant visa programs. There are enough visas in the EB greencard (PERM) program to naturalize every foreign Science & Engineering postgraduate educated in the U.S. each year. The non-immigrant programs simply create a backlog in the PERM greencard system and disadvantage the both the foreign worker and native worker.  During recessions, these foreign workers displace or disadvantage domestic workers which leads to housing foreclosures.

The dual-intent temporary foreign worker programs remove the requirement to maintain a foreign residence, which in turn, removes the employer's responsibility to pay per-Diem to the traveling worker. The employer is not contributing to the local service and hospitality industries and once again our economic troubles are related to housing.

Graph: Education Levels --Native, Naturalized citizen, Not a citizen.

As we can see from the graph above, we are not going to immigrate our way to prosperity with highly skilled immigrants in a jobless recovery, we have plenty of educated citizens.  Immigration can however cause more housing foreclosures where persons became unemployed in an ever more difficult employment market.

During the most prosperous and innovative decades (1940s - 1990s) in the history of the U.S., the levels of foreign-born in the U.S. labor force was below 10%,  and the worst decades at 15% and above.

"He [David Ricardo] posited that the growth of population and capital, pressing against a fixed supply of land, pushes up rents and holds down wages and profits." (Wikipedia: Economics)

Source:

U.S. Bureau of Census
“The Foreign-Born Labor Force in the United States: 2007”
December of 2009,
http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/acs-10.pdf

U.S. Bureau of Census
Housing Characteristics In The U.S. - Tables
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/histcensushsg.html

U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

BLS Unemployment Rates by State


Data Table:

State	Rank: Highest Percent of Employed Foreign Born	Rank: Highest Housing Foreclosures per capita	Rank: Highest Unemployment rate	Rank: State Over budget (by percent over budget)	SCORE
Nevada	4	1	1	1	7
California	1	3	3	4	11
Florida	5	4	5	14	28
Arizona	8	2	18	2	30
Illinois	9	10	9	11	39
New Jersey	3	15	17	12	47
Georgia	17	7	15	9	48
Rhode Island	13	26	4	10	53
Oregon	16	11	11	19	57
Idaho	26	5	23	8	62
Massachusetts	10	17	20	17	64
Utah	20	6	35	6	67
Colorado	19	9	32	7	67
South Carolina	32	24	7	5	68
Michigan	27	8	2	39	76
Hawaii	6	14	44	16	80
Maryland	12	12	36	23	83
Tennessee	34	22	13	15	84
Alaska	22	33	28	3	86
Washington	14	23	22	27	86
Connecticut	11	25	24	28	88
Virginia	15	16	38	22	91
North Carolina	23	36	14	20	93
Alabama	41	32	8	13	94
Ohio	39	13	10	35	97
Indiana	36	20	16	30	102
Missouri	38	30	19	18	105
New York	2	39	29	38	108
Pennsylvania	30	34	21	24	109
New Mexico	18	35	27	29	109
Texas	7	28	30	49	114
Wisconsin	35	19	31	31	116
Delaware	21	38	26	32	117
Mississippi	46	40	6	26	118
Minnesota	24	18	39	41	122
New Hampshire	31	27	46	21	125
Kentucky	45	41	12	36	134
Arkansas	33	21	34	46	134
Kansas	25	31	45	40	141
Maine	43	42	33	25	143
Oklahoma	28	29	43	44	144
Louisiana	40	37	41	37	155
Iowa	37	43	42	42	164
Nebraska	29	45	48	43	165
West Virginia	49	48	25	48	170
Vermont	42	50	47	33	172
South Dakota	48	44	49	34	175
Wyoming	44	46	40	45	175
Montana	50	47	37	47	181
North Dakota	47	49	50	50	196