Do immigrants really take jobs and lower wages?
![immigration, economics, do immigrants really take jobs and lower wages?](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/06/28/mariel-boatlift_wide-de564247c4f3222e47b1ad75e2b6a0f51f6af114.jpg?s=1100&c=50&f=jpeg)
Friends and relatives of Cuban refugees line the dock in Key West, Fla., in this April 30, 1980, file photo, as another boat heads into the U.S. Customs docking area at the Truman Annex. Associated Press hide caption
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We wade into the heated debate over immigrants' impact on the labor market. When the number of workers in a city increases, does that take away jobs from the people who already live and work there? Does a surge of immigration hurt their wages?
The debate within the field of economics often centers on Nobel-prize winner David Card's ground-breaking paper, "The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market." Today on the show: the fight over that paper, and what it tells us about the debate over immigration.
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This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Jeff Guo. It was produced by Willa Rubin, edited by Annie Brown, and engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
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Music: Universal Music Production - "Blue Wonder," "Way I Want You," and "The Sky Was Orange."