It wasn’t long ago when presidential candidates spoke of immigration reform and hammered their fists onto podiums proclaiming they would fix the problem. Democrats seemed to support legalizing the 12 million undocumented immigrants in America, while Republican’s rejected the idea and any bill supporting it. 
All it seemed to take was a sharp dive in the housing market, credit and the U.S. economy and a new agenda was on the minds of presidential candidates and the people of America. A new study reveals some controversial statistics between the views of Blacks, Whites and Hispanics in America and their view at how hard they work compared to immigrants.
The Pew Research Center released data which you can read here, revealing the differing views between races and how they viewed immigrant workers in America. When looking at all races together as a group, 56% of adults in America believe that most immigrants work harder than most blacks, 30% disagree and 14% say they don’t. The study took a focus on comparing the changes in the way races viewed hard working between blacks and immigrants from a study done in 1986 and a study done recently.
When looking at how whites viewed themselves as hard workers compared to immigrants in 1986, 65% said that immigrants work harder than them at low-wage jobs. Fast forward to now and you’ll find that it has dropped by 4%, with 61% of whites reporting they feel this way. If you asked white Americans how they viewed the hard work of immigrants compared to blacks in 1986 you’d find 63% claiming it was true but in the current timeframe that has declined to 55%.
What is really eyebrow raising is when you look at the difference in what black and white Americans think about hard work when asking if most immigrants work harder than blacks. Surprisingly, 64% of blacks feel that immigrants work harder than other blacks at low-paying jobs compared to the 55% of whites believing so. If you’re looking for some real controversy besides these statistics, all you have to do is look at Daniel Miessler’s blog here where he states, “There’s a simple explanation for whites not agreeing with the statement as much as blacks: they’re simply afraid to say what they believe for fear of feeling like, or being labeled, a racist. Blacks have immunity in this regard due to the fact that they’re talking about themselves, thus they are more free to say what they really think.”
Although you have whites believing 8% less than in 1986 that immigrants work harder than blacks, you will see blacks in the study holding ground in their view. 
Around 64% of blacks stated they felt immigrants worked harder than other blacks at low-paying jobs in 1986 and that has remained unchanged in current times.
If there is one race that definitely feels immigrants work much harder than black and whites in America, it’s Hispanics. Hispanics strongly believe immigrants work harder than whites at 72% giving a resounding yes. When looking at how blacks compare to immigrants in working harder, Hispanics believe 67% of immigrants work harder than blacks at low-paying jobs.
As the economy remains on shaky ground and Wal-Mart profits continue to come in reliably, America seems to think there is one person doing most of the work! Immigrants seem to be ringing in the new economy of low-paying jobs with hard work and dedication. What do you think? Are you working harder than the immigrants that are taking your jobs? Why have white Americans decided blacks are not working as hard as immigrants less true, but blacks feel this is more true?
Well, I’ve lost some regard for your website with this article. Do you jean ILLEGAL immigrants? Are all immigrants Hispanic. Do they work harder than say, Chinese or Irish?
How hard would YOU work if you were from a third-world economy, sending money back home where it will quickly add up to an enormous fortune? How hard would YOU work if you HAD to? You would work your f’n ass off you would, so get off your high horse.
@ user X
It is not stated anywhere in this article that “immigrants” are Hispanic. Immigrants are anyone that is not native to the country and a very large amount of them being illegal. Chinese, Irish, Hispanic could all be immigrants in this case.
No one is on a high horse here, we are covering a study that was released by Pew Research Center, we didn’t make the study nor did we make the answers. We are just delivering the news to you and you can do with it as you wish. If you want to get upset and disillusioned by statements we didn’t make, have at it, make it up and gripe about it all day long!
[…] read more | digg story […]
Most immigrants works harder because of the stigma of being an immigrant = lazy and uneducated. Therefore, they try to gain the respect of their peers.
[…] behavior.read more | digg […]
the white percentage is low because most are to afraid of saying something discriminatory against blacks
56% Americans say immigrants work harder at low-paying jobs | CommentURL.com…
\r\nWith immigration reform less of an issue with gas prices and economic troubles…
I think the public needs viewpoints like this to avoid scapegoating our hurting economy on the lower working class. I wont get started on the blame game, but I will NOT blame immigrants (legal or illegal) for anything except working hard to scrape a living for themselves and family.
I know some exceptions, but generally they don’t last long in this country.
Be conscience as well of new legislation that strips away basic rights of illegals. I worry this type of mindset just means America is moving backwards in human rights. Remember it wasn’t all that long ago black people were fighting for basic human rights and equality. Lets not backpedal to that point again.
I think immigrants work harder because most of us have financial obligation back at our home country. I have to send money though western union on a weekly basis to work family members from falling to starvation.
Most immigrants work harder because coming to the USA is like getting a second chance in life. Freedom from prosecution, economics slavery, starvation etc so we embrace the American dream with a great zeal and enthusiasm because we know we could move up the economic and social ladder through hard work. This concept is almost impossible where most of us immigrants are from.
Sadly when most Americans hear the word immigrant they automatically assume its a Hispanic. So having said that, the title didn’t offend me.
However, to answer your question, I don’t necessarily think one race works harder then another. I just think most assume Hispanics work harder because of the type of jobs they take. I am in the advertising world and most days very easily put in 12 to 16 hrs a day. The friend that forwarded me this post can verify the many days we worked well over a 24 hour shift. The difference comes in the fact that I tend to sit in front of a computer all day instead of in a field or at a construction site in the the brutal weather. The truth of the matter is Hispanics tend to work on jobs that require more physical labor which in turn most Americans see as harder working positions. This mentality is taught to us in school, and in the work force where it appears management do nothing but sit around while everyone else does all the work. However, trust me when I say most good managers and business owners work just as hard if not harder, putting in very long hours and dealing with stress levels unimaginable.
Maybe the question should be rephrased “Do Hispanics (trying to be sensitive to those who don’t like the word Immigrant) tend to take jobs most Americans don’t want?
I would agree with #8 Kent. This article is missing a lot of pertinent data points and is very vague. But then again, we are talking about low paying remedial jobs and most Americans are not aspiring to working at this rung in the ladder. If the article was about high paying skilled labor, I am sure the responses would be greatly different in the study.
X, your comments reflect your ignorance. Maybe you should do some research and learn more about immigration. While you are at it, you might want to learn how immigrants use their money.
Well said Marv.
What I find to be terrible is legal immigrants who come here with a decent education and still end up working those less desirable jobs. I was a recruiter for labor intensive positions, factory type of jobs. I remember one guy in particular who came in looking for work. This man was an architect in his home country. Why do we not respect other countries’ educations? If his education was of a lesser quality, there should be a way to level the playing field for him. (I can’t say it was.) Maybe, a year of technical school to make him more marketable here in the U.S…In other words, he should not go from architecture to driving a forklift.
Also, as a recruiter, I noticed the illegal workers showed up the most consistently. I’m sorry but they did. I tried to send white and black people to work, and they would no-show constantly. The illegal people absolutely went to work, and went for $6 or $7 an hour. So please don’t complain about people taking “our” jobs. We won’t even show up! If you are hungry and broke, you go to work. Some money is better than no money. And A job is better than no job.
Well, there is no doubt that most illegal workers I have seen work hard to keep their jobs. However, I think it is probably a myth to say that no one else that is here legally would work as hard. They just don’t because they don’t have to.
y
You are right, many Blacks and Whites walk away from jobs that many Hispanics will take. However, I think the reasoning for that is American’s place value on what they do, and primarily because the cost of living is harder on them due to their unwillingness to live 10+ people in a house. I myself must say if I’m paying $1000 a month for rent (which is low in the bay area) a $10 or even $15 an hour job want cut it. Especially after you factor in insurance, GAS, utilities, food and Uncle Sam.
As far as the Hispanic man with the Architecture Degree goes, the reality of degrees is having contacts in addition to skills. I know many people who have degrees even here in America but are still waiters because they have no experience. I have meet many Hispanics who live many to a house and therefore are willing to accept lower paying jobs because their cost of living is lower. In addition many Hispanics work here only to take care of their families back in Mexico where the money they make here goes a long way.
To sum up my feelings I think the whole situation sucks. I can’t fault a business man wanting cheaper labor and I can’t fault the many welling to accept the lower pay. But on the other hand I can’t fault Americans for not wanting a job that want even provide the basic necessities of life. But getting mad at Hispanics isn’t the right answer. After all, many of them are heroes in my eyes for their willingness to do what many Americans can’t or want do. The answer is education. Which I feel will teach many that these conditions are the result of greedy governments who really can fix some of these issues, but have other interest. Theirs!!!
Bizshrink,Maybe I’m a little hot under the collar, this issue has hurt me very badly. I have been out of work since Bush W was elected. I have avoid getting medical care, eating well, buying clothes, because of a really very difficult time finding work. Let me summarize shortly what I have learned over the years.Our government is corrupted by private interests. See http://www.themoneymasters.comor http://www.americafreedomtofascism.comOur society evolved from slavery. Slaves work very hard under pain of agonizing torture. Then came the French Revolution, freeing the peasants from the horrifically cruel tyranny, consisting of the church, the royal guard, and the aristocrats, that oppressed them for thousands of years. Then came the American Revolution, which was really lost, because the illegal Federal Reserve, central banking act, etc, have exacted a terrible price upon the citizens.In other words, the old triad of church-military-aristocrats, devised a new scheme to wrest power from the new egalitarian concepts and scientific thought vs religious superstition. That scheme is called FASCISM.In days of old there were debtor prisions. Slavery and indentured servitude were legal. The homedebtors of the present housing bust would have been sent to jail and forced labor.Have you seen the documentaries of fires in the old New York garment factories? They show pictures of women jumping from flaming buildings where they worked. The exit doors were locked because workers had no rights. Then another fire happened and women jumped in flames to their deaths. And the business owners still refused to even insure that the exits were clear in the event of fire. In other words, workers were treated like chattel, get it?As a result workers began to slowly gain rights. Of course the business owners sent goon squads to crack their skulls. I believe there is a monument in the midwest, where government troops actually killed some citizens marching for labor rights. The freedom and rights that we have enjoyed are an anomaly, just a blink of an eye in the long history of “man’s inhumanity to man”. American working conditions are the magnet that attract workers from all over the world.Fast forward to today. We are loosing our rights and fast. Business owners are obliterating workers rights by hiring illegal workers. They are flaunting the laws spawned in the blood sweat and rears of untold American heroes, common workers who stood up for the rights that until now we have enjoyed. But now companies can setup sweat shops in countries with gross human rights records, where they can in effect reinstitute indentured servitude. The H-1B visa workers, the illegal immigrant workers, can be worked like cattle. This is called human trafficking or RICCO statute violations and it is blatantly illegal. Sure they work hard. Do you think it is right that American businesses break these laws and work people to death like animals? Do you think it is right that American workers are left to die homeless and without medical care or jobs in their own communities?Do you think that just because a person can be forced to work like an animal that it is OK break human rights laws designed to protect citizens?Are you afraid? You should be. Check the news and you will see the pope with the president together. The old triad at work. The church (pope), the military (Bush, Cheney and Co.) and the aristocrats (the political elite and super rich). Not scared yet? Note that Bush has legalized torture. The church has for thousands of years burned and sadistically bloody murdered..TORTURED…thousands upon thousands of innocent men, women and children, in the name of god. And so now they are regaining their tools of torture. And we are loosing our human rights. You are actually implying that using illegal labor to marginalize American workers who are supposedly protected by human rights laws, is OK, because of the impression that they work harder. That makes me and many other Americans who are now suffering under this fascist regime very angry.Let me ask you this. Which ethnic group do you think would last longer if subjected to the lash, the rack, fire or other methods to force submission? Remember, it is helps to feed and water your chattel before using them all up.And this does not only affect American workers. American economic warfare ruins the lives of South Americans in their home land as well. It ruins the lives of all it touches, the macdonaldization of foreign culture. Please research this. research The East Indian Tea Company. Research the history of coca-cola in South America. research the role of American businesses in the rise of nazi Germany (IBM) and Ford got a medal from Hitler. The same crap is still going on and people are finally understanding the horrid truth thanks to the internet. This is truly disgusted and I am disgusted with America.
Bizshrink, you can hide from the truth, try to ignore it, but it won’t go away. Your failure to address this comment implies that you have no answer, you are hiding your head in the sand. The internet is alive with this information, you don’t like it, tough luck.
Maybe I’m a little hot under the collar, this issue has hurt me very badly. I have been out of work since Bush W was elected. I have avoid getting medical care, eating well, buying clothes, because of a really very difficult time finding work.
Let me summarize shortly what I have learned over the years.
Our government is corrupted by private interests. See http://www.themoneymasters.com
or http://www.americafreedomtofascism.com
Our society evolved from slavery. Slaves work very hard under pain of agonizing torture. Then came the French Revolution, freeing the peasants from the horrifically cruel tyranny, consisting of the church, the royal guard, and the aristocrats, that oppressed them for thousands of years. Then came the American Revolution, which was really lost, because the illegal Federal Reserve, central banking act, etc, have exacted a terrible price upon the citizens.
In other words, the old triad of church-military-aristocrats, devised a new scheme to wrest power from the new egalitarian concepts and scientific thought vs religious superstition. That scheme is called FASCISM.
In days of old there were debtor prisions. Slavery and indentured servitude were legal. The homedebtors of the present housing bust would have been sent to jail and forced labor.
Have you seen the documentaries of fires in the old New York garment factories? They show pictures of women jumping from flaming buildings where they worked. The exit doors were locked because workers had no rights. Then another fire happened and women jumped in flames to their deaths. And the business owners still refused to even insure that the exits were clear in the event of fire. In other words, workers were treated like chattel, get it?
As a result workers began to slowly gain rights. Of course the business owners sent goon squads to crack their skulls. I believe there is a monument in the midwest, where government troops actually killed some citizens marching for labor rights. The freedom and rights that we have enjoyed are an anomaly, just a blink of an eye in the long history of “man’s inhumanity to man”. American working conditions are the magnet that attract workers from all over the world.
Fast forward to today. We are loosing our rights and fast. Business owners are obliterating workers rights by hiring illegal workers. They are flaunting the laws spawned in the blood sweat and rears of untold American heroes, common workers who stood up for the rights that until now we have enjoyed. But now companies can setup sweat shops in countries with gross human rights records, where they can in effect reinstitute indentured servitude. The H-1B visa workers, the illegal immigrant workers, can be worked like cattle. This is called human trafficking or RICCO statute violations and it is blatantly illegal. Sure they work hard. Do you think it is right that American businesses break these laws and work people to death like animals? Do you think it is right that American workers are left to die homeless and without medical care or jobs in their own communities?
Do you think that just because a person can be forced to work like an animal that it is OK break human rights laws designed to protect citizens?
Are you afraid? You should be. Check the news and you will see the pope with the president together. The old triad at work. The church (pope), the military (Bush, Cheney and Co.) and the aristocrats (the political elite and super rich). Not scared yet? Note that Bush has legalized torture. The church has for thousands of years burned and sadistically bloody murdered..TORTURED…thousands upon thousands of innocent men, women and children, in the name of god. And so now they are regaining their tools of torture. And we are loosing our human rights.
You are actually implying that using illegal labor to marginalize American workers who are supposedly protected by human rights laws, is OK, because of the impression that they work harder. That makes me and many other Americans who are now suffering under this fascist regime very angry.
Let me ask you this. Which ethnic group do you think would last longer if subjected to the lash, the rack, fire or other methods to force submission? Remember, it is helps to feed and water your chattel before using them all up.
And this does not only affect American workers. American economic warfare ruins the lives of South Americans in their home land as well. It ruins the lives of all it touches, the macdonaldization of foreign culture. Please research this. research The East Indian Tea Company. Research the history of coca-cola in South America. research the role of American businesses in the rise of nazi Germany (IBM) and Ford got a medal from Hitler. The same crap is still going on and people are finally understanding the horrid truth thanks to the internet. This is truly disgusted and I am disgusted with America.
[…] The Source […]
@tompayne or truthout whatever you want to call yourself!
We were not ignoring your comment and we were not censoring you. Because you included links in your comment you were caught by the spam filter and we had to manually approve your comment. Your views are welcome here.
Different people have different perspective about immigrants.The thing is this if a person migrates from one place to another its due to the fact in most of the cases just to earn better keeping this thing in mind they work hard.A person leaves his country his near and dear ones just to earn keeping this in mind they just work hard hard and hard.