In Great Britain, a poll shows that teenagers are the people most worried about immigration.
They should be! In the job market, many employers would rather hire an immigrant for an entry level job than a native teenager. The London Evening Standard has done a poll, and it seems to think that there's something wrong with teenagers—"this traditionally more immigration-tolerant group"—being worried about being displaced by immigrants.
Immigration is now big worry for teenagers
Joe Murphy, Political Editor
February 21, 2011Teenagers are for the first time more worried about immigration than people in their thirties, exclusive research for the Evening Standard reveals today.
In a worrying shift of opinion, pollsters Ipsos MORI discovered that 71 per cent of youngsters aged 16 to 24 are concerned about the issue, compared with just 68 per cent of those aged 25-39.
The finding marks a change from the historic trend for the young to be less bothered than older people about immigration. Concern among 16 to 24 year olds has soared by 10 points from 61 per cent since 2009.
Today's survey also revealed rising worry about the impact on youth unemployment, prompting fears that social divisions being caused by the economic squeeze.
A teenager is a person who has never had a job, and doesn't know for sure if he's going to get one. So naturally, they're worried:
"Worry that immigration will hit jobs and burden hard-pressed public services seems to be the biggest cause. Almost half (49 per cent) of young people believe that new arrivals will damage the economic recovery by taking away jobs from people already living here."
This, of course, is true. More evidence that the Evening Standard thinks the teenagers are misguided:
"Many people believe myths about immigration, the researchers found. Only seven per cent think that Britain has fewer asylum seekers than other countries in Europe, compared to 58 per cent who wrongly believe it is higher.
The Government is planning to cut the number of unskilled foreign workers, while encouraging wealthy tycoons and scientists. There is concern among London business chiefs that the cap will lead to skills shortages.
Ben Page, Chief Executive of Ipsos MORI said: "Concern amongst young people about immigration has also increased and that could be attributed to the high levels of youth unemployment."
It's a fact that immigration causes high levels of youth unemployment and it's also a fact that "business chiefs" are always complaining that any limit at all on immigration will lead to a "skills shortage." I suggest that if the "business chiefs" in question can't find enough skilled workers, they try training unemployed teenagers.
In a not-unrelated story from this side of the Atlantic, non-college educated whites are not happy with Obama:
"A new survey by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School for Public Health found dire news for Democrats: ”When asked which party better understands the economic problems that people in the country are having, non-college whites side with the Republicans by a 14-point margin.”
That news is so uncomfortable for media liberals that the Post put that sentence in paragraph 15 of a story they placed on page A-2. The headline on this story by Jon Cohen and Dan Balz was ”Non-college whites gloomy about economy: Group is more pessimistic than those with degrees, poll finds.” It wasn't ”Non-college whites don't like Obama economic policies.”
Burying the Bad News: Obama Still Unliked by 'Non-College Whites', By Tim Graham February 22, 2011
Peter Brimelow said in a speech to The American Cause that
People ask, how do we appeal to younger people? The only section of the white vote that Obama carried was people below 30–he narrowly carried them. But the fact is that it was suicidal for any white male to vote for Obama because affirmative action quotas are a zero sum game. The more quotas there are, the more white males will be squeezed out of everything–as also will be the families that depend on them. That’s the issue that should have been used to appeal to the young."
It's possible that unemployment will help them figure it out for themselves.
