The higher unemployment rate may not be a bad thing this time

Five people sit cross legged holding papers and laptops.

(Outlet: Marketplace) The dust is starting to settle from the global stock market sell-off Monday. One development that helped spark fear among investors was the increase in the U.S. unemployment rate, which ticked up to 4.3% in July from 4.1% in June. A rising jobless rate is not, on the face of it, usually a good thing. But this time, the reasons might not be so bad.Read More

New Book Finds Immigrants Innovate, Integrate And Benefit Americans

The Statue of Liberty is seen from below in New York City in 2021.

(Outlet: Forbes) The author of a new book finds immigrants are not villains or victims but people who strive to better their lives and contribute to a vibrant society. The book comes at a time when immigration ranks among the country’s most contentious issues. Stuart Anderson, Senior Contributor at Forbes, interviews economist Zeke Hernandez. Read More

‘Villains nor victims’: Why immigration is good for our economy

Ali Velshi stands in front of a tv monitor that reads "The Truth about Immigration"

(Outlet: MSNBC)  In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed the National Origins Act – a restrictive immigration bill that had lasting negative economic and social consequences. 100 years later, we find ourselves having a similar rhetorical and ideological debate about immigration. Donald Trump and his allies are stoking anti-immigrant sentiment and pushing the idea that immigration is the reason the United States is a “nation in decline”. Wharton School Professor and author Zeke Emanuel Hernandez points out to Ali Velshi that it’s in America’s best interest, socially and economically, to embrace immigrants. Read More

The US is reviving the worst of its immigration history to all of our peril

A graph demonstrating Immigrants as a % of the US population

(Outlet: The Hill) 100 years ago today, America committed its biggest immigration blunder when President Calvin Coolidge signed the National Origins Act. As we commemorate the anniversary, most of the conversation focuses on condemning the racist motivation of excluding Asians and Southern and Eastern Europeans. But almost nobody talks about two things. One is the self-harm the restrictions caused to America: significant job losses, obliterating innovation by American scientists and companies, lowering investment across our communities and giving rise to the border problems we still experience to this day, writes Zeke Hernandez.Read More

Immigration in its different forms is a benefit to communities, League of Women Voters told

Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico are lined up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas.

(Outlet: Delco Daily Times) The League of Women Voters of Central Delaware County took on the issue of immigration on Friday as experts delved into the numbers and issues behind what drives immigrants to the United States. “We’re in a very important moment in the history of immigration in the United States,” Exequiel “Zeke” Hernandez, one of the presenters, said. “There’s a widespread misunderstanding about just very basic facts about who immigrants are and what they do.”Read More

Inside a Brooklyn kitchen that trains migrants for restaurant jobs, lifting an industry

Four chefs stand in a kitchen wearing aprons and red shirts, one holding a tray of cupcakes.

(Outlet: Gothamist) The five-week course called Culinary Career Pathways for New New Yorkers was launched in April by the nonprofit group Hot Bread Kitchen, which trains New Yorkers for jobs in the food industry. Although the course is patterned after the organization’s signature Culinary Fundamentals course, it has an important twist: It was designed specifically for newly arrived Latin American migrants who have secured work permits and set their sights on careers in the food industry. But the benefits and possibilities extend far beyond the individuals in this classroom.Read More