Do Immigrants Undercut American Wages? The Research Says Barely, If at All

The claim that immigrants are 'undercutting the wages of American workers' is mostly false. The National Academies' 2017 review found immigration's effect on the wages of native-born workers overall is very small over a 10-plus-year horizon, and a 2024 NBER study by Caiumi and Peri found immigration raised the wages of less-educated native workers by 1.7 to 2.6 percent because immigrants and natives are complements, not substitutes. Sam rates it Mostly False.