How inappropriate does that title sound? Today it is universally agreed that a female should not be barred from any job simply because of her marriage status. Yet, during the Great Depression many jobs became off-limits to married women simply due to the fear that a married woman with a job was causing another worker to lose a job.
In the New York Time’s Economix Blog, Economics Professor Casey B. Mulligan argues that such fears are unnecessary and that a job filled by one person does not necessarily mean that another person has lost a job. Put differently, Professor Mulligan argues that the job market isn’t a zero-sum game. Professor Mulligan provides facts supporting his proposition and suggests that the current employment fears of many Americans are behind the recent inclusion of restrictive immigration language in TARP.
If Professor Mulligan is right, then the restrictive immigration language in TARP is not productive and may even be a hindrance to the recovery of the economy. Fear is a dangerous thing – lets hope that it doesn’t take seventy years for Americans to accept that an immigrant working in the United States is not competing directly with American Workers and does not necessarily deprive an American of a job.