A peer-reviewed study conducted by an Oregon State University professor finds that Oregon’s economy would be devastated if a federal court decision requiring employers to verify workers’ social security numbers, and fire those workers whose numbers don’t match, is upheld.
The study, completed by Oregon State University Economics Professor William Jaeger, finds that enforcement of the so-called “No Match Rule” could cost as many as 97,500 undocumented Oregon workers to lose their jobs, with an additional 76,000 documented workers also out of work within the first year of enforcement due to rippling economic impacts.
The study also finds that in the short term unemployment would increase by 7.7 percent, statewide annual production would decrease as much as $17.7 billion, and Oregon would lose as much as $656 million in tax revenues.
Additionally, many employers would find it difficult to replace those undocumented workers with legal workers because American citizens, or foreigners living here as part of the guest worker program, tend to be more educated and have higher expectations for annual salaries and benefit packages, the study says.
Recent published reports show the estimated number of illegal immigrants working in the western United States: 150,000 in Oregon; 217,500 in Washington; 27,500 in Idaho; and 2.4 million in California, by far the largest population of illegals in the U.S.
