Hawkins 1

Clayton Hawkins
Miss Stinnett
English 11- Period 5
23 September 2016
Annotated Bibliography: Immigration and Economy
Research Question: Do illegal immigrants pose a threat to low wage jobs in Arizona?
Milkman, Ruth. Immigrant Workers and the Future of American Labor. ABA Journal of Labor
&Amp; Employment Law, 2011, p. 295. Academic OneFile,
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy1.azlibrary.gov:2048/ps/i.do?
p=aone&sw=w&u=azstatelibdev&v=2.1&it=r&id=gale|
a318179522&asid=54698c7902ec4c05b44e60f0ba220179.
Summary: Immigrant workers have helped the United States economy drastically. It states that
out of the 154 million workers, about 24 million are foreign-born. Many decades have passed
and the size of the foreign-born workforce has grown. Immigrants come to the US for a higher
economic status; that goes for the majority of the immigrant migration. As workers in the United
States, immigrants get benefits such as educational and social services. Recent surveys had
suggested that most of the illegal immigrants would become legal if they had the time or they
knew they would not get deported.
Evaluation: This article was a reliable source for many reasons: the currency of the source, it was
unbiased, and it provided more than enough information. The author, Ruth Milkman, emphasized
many facts of both for and against illegal immigrant workers. Milkman indirectly helped answer
the question and it could not have been more helpful. It influenced the group to think outside-

Hawkins 2
the-box and come to a conclusion. It definitely changed opinions and challenged some facts, but
it contributed to the findings well.
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: on (Not) Getting by in America. New York,
Metropolitan Books, 2001.
Summary: Barbara Ehrenreich wrote about her time living on minimum wage in three different
cities. She began her experiment in Key West, Florida where she found a decent apartment for
$500 a month. She finds a job at Hearthside and works the hours of 2:00 PM till 10:00 PM. She
is paid $2.43 an hour with the addition of tips. She realizes that she cannot afford a security
deposit for her apartment. Ehrenreich picks up a second job at a restaurant named Jerrys. In her
words Jerrys is a disaster. Everything is terrible and there is no good qualities or appliances
here. After Key West she moves to Maine because of the vast majority of white people. She finds
a place for $65 a week, but was in terrible living conditions. Then she finds a cottage for $120 a
week and takes it. She knew she could probably find something cheaper, but she had to have a
place to stay. Within a couple of weeks, she found a house cleaning service called Merry
Maids. On top of being a made she serves nursing-home patients on the weekend to make some
extra cash. She lasted two years there and finally made her move to the next chapter. She moves
to Minnesota where she does not tell why she chose it. She applies to Menards and Wal-Mart.
Menards accepts her right away and puts her in the plumbing department. While working there,
Wal-Mart calls her and says that they are holding an orientation; she decides to go. After the
orientation, she quits Menards and goes to Wal-Mart even though he pays less. She decides that
people can live on minimum wage jobs, just depends where and how much they make.
Evaluation: Nickel and Dimed is a great source for the question. The book entails a lot of
situations where living on minimum wage can be difficult and the different ethnicities she

Hawkins 3
worked with. The author emphasized how she was able to live as a minimum wage worker and
how she became familiar with the different situations entailed. Ehrenreich gave us a useful
source; it contributed to us finding the different places where minimum wage workers lived and
the conditions on how the lived. All in all, Nickel and Dimed was a great source for the question,
not just for the journey, but for all the different information she provided.
O'Connor, John. "Immigration reform seen as way to boost staffing." McKnight's Long-Term
Care News Sept. 2005: 10. Academic OneFile. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
Summary: During President Bushs presidency, there were two bills that republicans and
democrats were pushing to pass. One bill was pushed by Sens. John McCain and Ted Kennedy
that would make illegal immigrant workers pay fines, back taxes, and enter the workforce with a
temporary work program. Another bill had the representatives of John Cornyn and Jon Kyl that
would allow immigrants to work in three two-year intervals. In addition, Hal Daub, CEO of
American Health Care Association, stated that jobs will need to be filled and it could help boost
economy.
Evaluation: The source was published in 2005 which is not very recent, but it does give some
background information on illegal immigrant workers. The author, John OConner, wrote the
article short and to the point. It was filled with information and a couple of great politicians. This
source was useful because it gave background information and entailed some bills that were
trying to be passed. This did not exactly alter or influence the decision, but made the group
informed.