[Regajohn]

Originally Posted by craig11152

so take that out of the equation. It was a simplistic example to make the point that I DID NOT MAKE UP....

In the world of Capitalism and theory of Supply and Demand there is a school of thought that there is no such thing as a "shortage of labor" rather a shortage of labor at the price being offered.
If an employer can't find someone to work for minimum wage to $10 an hour is the solution to import him workers from some impoverished countries willing to work at that price or is the solution for the employer to raise his offer till he gets people willing to work?


If you think the solution is importing cheap labor from the third world keep in mind it can eventually carry beyond unskilled or semiskilled manual labor.
There are third world people educated enough to teach high school for less money than American teachers and may be willing to pass up on benefits too.
No matter what job you have in this country there is a good chance somebody in the third world is fully qualified to do that job AND willing to do it cheaper. But as long as the current status quo is just manual labor, washing dishes, changing bed sheets, pulling weeds, picking lettuce, etc, people think its a-ok to import those jobs because they aren't YOUR job.

Which is why x-ray images get emailed overseas so Indian doctors can read them for a quarter of the price that an American Radiologist would

[magellan]

Originally Posted by craig11152

so take that out of the equation. It was a simplistic example to make the point that I DID NOT MAKE UP....

In the world of Capitalism and theory of Supply and Demand there is a school of thought that there is no such thing as a "shortage of labor" rather a shortage of labor at the price being offered.
If an employer can't find someone to work for minimum wage to $10 an hour is the solution to import him workers from some impoverished countries willing to work at that price or is the solution for the employer to raise his offer till he gets people willing to work?


If you think the solution is importing cheap labor from the third world keep in mind it can eventually carry beyond unskilled or semiskilled manual labor.
There are third world people educated enough to teach high school for less money than American teachers and may be willing to pass up on benefits too.
No matter what job you have in this country there is a good chance somebody in the third world is fully qualified to do that job AND willing to do it cheaper. But as long as the current status quo is just manual labor, washing dishes, changing bed sheets, pulling weeds, picking lettuce, etc, people think its a-ok to import those jobs because they aren't YOUR job.

Have you been to Mackinac Island lately? Most of the workers up there, from front desk to bartenders to fudge makers are from foreign countries, and I don't really think they're 3rd world countries. Most seem to be from Baltic States, Eastern European, etc.. Same with Cedar Point in the summers, there are a ton of foreign workers there now I've noticed. It's because very few people in Michigan can survive on a 4 month job, unless you're in college. And even college kids here don't want to do those jobs anymore. You get worked 60 - 70 hours per week, and after room and board, you walk away at the end of the summer with only a few $thousand to show for it. Raising the wages from $10 up to $12, $13 or $14/hour really isn't going to persuade that many Michiganders to go up there.

But if you're from a foreign country just looking for any way to get a work visa into the United States, it's a perfect opportunity.

Plus economics is actually way more complicated than "supply and demand." I read that comment a lot and it's aggravating.

[beachmouse]

For the less skilled seasonal jobs, a lot of them go to under-25 foreigners who have more flexibility in arranging college schedules than many kind here and they’ll do a few seasons not only because the net pay is better than Bulgaria, even after transportation and housing costs, but also because it helps them become really fluent in English, which can open up better professional job opportunities down the road.

I live in a place now where year round unemployment is less than 3% and the foreign seasonal employees definitely aren’t taking jobs away from local youth