North Columbus News

Senator JD Vance (R-OH) criticized the impact of immigration on the American economy and workforce during a Senate Banking Committee hearing with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Senator Vance emphasized the role of immigration in exacerbating issues within the housing and labor markets, as well as its effect on wage growth. He referenced a letter from Springfield, Ohio's city manager to the Senate Banking Committee, detailing a housing crisis due to an influx of migrants.

Senator Vance quoted Federal Reserve Governor Miki Bowman: “There is a risk that increased immigration and continued labor market tightness could lead to persistently high core services inflation. Given the current low inventory of affordable housing, the inflow of new immigrants in some geographic areas could result in upward pressure on rents, as additional housing supply may take time to materialize. With labor markets remaining tight, wage growth has been elevated at around or above 4%, still higher than the pace consistent with our 2% inflation goal, given trend productivity growth.”

Addressing Springfield's situation, Senator Vance noted: “A letter for the record from the City of Springfield in our state... highlights a very real example of this particular concern... ‘Springfield has seen a surge in population through immigration that has significantly impacted our ability as a community to produce enough housing opportunities for all. Springfield’s Haitian population has increased 15 to 20,000 over the last four years in a community of under 60,000 previous residents.’”

He further elaborated on conversations with Springfield residents about challenges beyond housing: “They’re trying to build 5000 new housing units... but it’s also hospital services, it’s school services. There are a whole host of ways in which this immigration problem... is having very real human consequences.”

On wages, Senator Vance remarked: “One of the euphemistic ways in which economists I think sometimes talk about labor supply and immigration is they’ll say something to the effect of, ‘Well, an increase in labor supply has put downward pressure on labor prices,’ and what they’re effectively saying is that increased immigration has put downward pressure on the wages of American workers."

He questioned why economists view an influx of new labor positively: “Why do we see that as a good thing? Or maybe that’s wrong... But why do so many economists treat an influx of new labor as a good thing? If labor is constrained... doesn’t that lead to rising wages for American workers?”

Senator Vance proposed focusing on filling jobs with American workers rather than immigrants: “If we say we have a really tight labor market and we say that there are more than one job openings per worker... One is through a new influx of workers via the immigration system. Another way is by raising wages and bringing some of the workers that are on the sidelines.”