nanny-wars

Would New York's Economy Collapse If Nannies Were Paid On The Books?

Emily Gould · 10/24/07 10:45AM

I-banker blogger Mijka Samora has done the math, and realized that hiring an illegal immigrant nanny, paying her lower wages, and paying her off the books "puts a cool $16,000 in after-tax dollars in your pocket every year." This "nanny arbitrage" is epidemic because, Mijka says, of "the widespread, if misguided, notion that 'everyone else does it', and in the conflicted satisfaction of helping an illegal make a living." But even though Mijka is obviously correct that monies saved by using cheap illegal labor are funneled back into the economy, his other arguments for why the city's fiscal infrastructure might come crumbling down if labor laws were actually enforced are less buyable.