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I work in contracting and I have worked with many businesses owned by immigrants that make a lot of money in all of those categories:
Construction - they set themselves up as a general contractor - makes decent money as a business
Janitorial - they set themselves up as a cleaning service - makes decent money as a business
Landscaping - same thing
Kitchen - they set up "authentic" restaurants or food trucks or catering companies makes decent money
Also, I worked in banking and we frequently hired bilingual people who spoke Spanish and Korean because we had a lot of customers who spoke those languages. I now work in housing (contracting services for housing communities) and we had people we contracted with who were independent contractors and provided translation services for our residents - mostly Spanish, Russian, Polish, German, and Korean.
As stated, they don't make the economy worse. And many immigrants have an entrepreneurial spirit and set up businesses and make good money. I have had Latino landscaping contractors who are just a few guys with some lawn mowers and they go out and cut grass on empty lots for us and on that one contract they make $100K per year.
There has been lots of discussion about the reason our American economy is so weak. Though few people mention the ever increasing number of people who live in the USA who can't speak or write English. It is becoming impossible to communicate with people in public contact jobs. The man at the auto repair shop, the lady at the hair salon cutting my hair, the woman taking my order at McDonalds, the person who answers the phone at the customer service line, the bank teller, and even college instructors.
As a manager, I get tons of resumes from job applicants who are ESL. While I appreciate their desire to live the American dream, I can't understand half of what they are saying in their resume and cover letter, so they are not hired. How long is this person going to be collecting welfare while their applications for employment are rejected due to lack of English skills?
Yes, many of these people speak or understand some English but they were put in customer related jobs without knowing enough to function. They come cheap, but at the end they are hurting the business and the US Economy.
This thread is very similar to a string of threads posted by a famous past forum user.... Someone retired now who took applications in HR......
I work in contracting and I have worked with many businesses owned by immigrants that make a lot of money in all of those categories:
Construction - they set themselves up as a general contractor - makes decent money as a business
Janitorial - they set themselves up as a cleaning service - makes decent money as a business
Landscaping - same thing
Kitchen - they set up "authentic" restaurants or food trucks or catering companies makes decent money
Also, I worked in banking and we frequently hired bilingual people who spoke Spanish and Korean because we had a lot of customers who spoke those languages. I now work in housing (contracting services for housing communities) and we had people we contracted with who were independent contractors and provided translation services for our residents - mostly Spanish, Russian, Polish, German, and Korean.
As stated, they don't make the economy worse. And many immigrants have an entrepreneurial spirit and set up businesses and make good money. I have had Latino landscaping contractors who are just a few guys with some lawn mowers and they go out and cut grass on empty lots for us and on that one contract they make $100K per year.
And the owner, head guy or someone else speaks English.
I've contracted services. The person I spoke with speaks English. The crew shows up and at least one person speaks English.
We already know that immigrants make a lot of money by the reports of the tens of billions of dollars they send back home every year.
Many of the same jobs historically taken by immigrants.
My non- English speaking in laws were janitors in commercial buildings as were most of their friends and relatives at the time.
OT- My husband's legal first name is his middle name. The names were transposed upon immigration when he was a young child. His parents were afraid to question anything related to immigration and immediately began to refer to him by the name assigned to him by U.S. Immigration.
It was and remains common for first generation immigrants to live their lives within their communities and never learn English. My SIL, now in her 60's, immigrated with her family at age 12. She is fluent in several European languages as were her parents. She continues to live in an isolated ethnic community and rarely speaks English. Her younger sister was the family's anchor baby that helped secure the family's citizenship, back when.
I work in contracting and I have worked with many businesses owned by immigrants that make a lot of money in all of those categories:
Construction - they set themselves up as a general contractor - makes decent money as a business
Janitorial - they set themselves up as a cleaning service - makes decent money as a business
Landscaping - same thing
Kitchen - they set up "authentic" restaurants or food trucks or catering companies makes decent money
Also, I worked in banking and we frequently hired bilingual people who spoke Spanish and Korean because we had a lot of customers who spoke those languages. I now work in housing (contracting services for housing communities) and we had people we contracted with who were independent contractors and provided translation services for our residents - mostly Spanish, Russian, Polish, German, and Korean.
As stated, they don't make the economy worse. And many immigrants have an entrepreneurial spirit and set up businesses and make good money. I have had Latino landscaping contractors who are just a few guys with some lawn mowers and they go out and cut grass on empty lots for us and on that one contract they make $100K per year.
And that's just fine just as long as they and their workers are here legally. Many in the construction, landscaping and restaurant businesses are not though.
It is becoming impossible to communicate with people in public contact jobs. The man at the auto repair shop, the lady at the hair salon cutting my hair, the woman taking my order at McDonalds, the person who answers the phone at the customer service line, the bank teller, and even college instructors.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Same here. In fact, the only people I have contact with that don't speak understandable English are scammers, telemarketers and other call center workers. I just hang up on them. While there are some accents to deal with, the many recent immigrants I run into (mostly from India, China, and Vietnam)
including co-workers in professional jobs speak good English and learned it before moving here. If anything they help the economy by paying taxes, buying goods and services, paying rent or buying homes. Those that don't speak English tend to be farm, hotel and restaurant workers doing low pay hard work that most natives wouldn't do.
So you think it is fine that the person at the eating establishment that takes your order does not understand what you are saying and messes up your order? That is good for the business and the customer?
Same here. In fact, the only people I have contact with that don't speak understandable English are scammers, telemarketers and other call center workers. I just hang up on them. While there are some accents to deal with, the many recent immigrants I run into (mostly from India, China, and Vietnam)
including co-workers in professional jobs speak good English and learned it before moving here. If anything they help the economy by paying taxes, buying goods and services, paying rent or buying homes. Those that don't speak English tend to be farm, hotel and restaurant workers doing low pay hard work that most natives wouldn't do.
Other than farm work (but only for Americans who live in urban areas) those jobs have always been done by American until the arrival of cheap, illegal labor undercutting them.
So you think it is fine that the person at the eating establishment that takes your order does not understand what you are saying and messes up your order? That is good for the business and the customer?
You're not understanding. That's ironic. What I mean is, I don't have this issue you seem to have such a problem with with people in the service industry not speaking English. Do you live in Mexico maybe? You present it like 24/7 you have problems with the service industry. Really? All the time? I can count on one hand the times where I had communication issues with someone in the past year maybe. That's right, one hand. Surely you wouldn't be, oh I don't know, making this whole thing up, now would you?
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