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Um, the reason that people use cheaper labor is specifically because the customer wants to pay LESS.
Heres an idea. Go hire a bunch of pasty young white men and put them in the sun with concrete tools and see how long they last. Or put them to lifting heavy cement blocks all day long nonstop building a Walmart.
Then come and biitch about the Mexicans taking jobs Americans want. You'll find out thats a laugh.
Who do you think were doing all those construction jobs for a fair wage before millions of cheap illegals flooded our border? Illegal Mexicans did take those jobs from Americans regardless of their race by working for less. If you think their greedy employers are passing any savings on to the consumer you aren't dealing in reality.
I live across the street from a large community that was built by mostly illegal alien Mexicans and they were shabbily built. Many of the homeowners up and left them the workmanship was so poor.
In the long run I think this policy will help all us contractors. We all know that there is more than enough contractors that have cheap labor by paying a bunch of Mexicans close to nothing "under the table" making it difficult for us legit guys to win the bids when we pay decent wages
Too late for me. I lost my contracting business to wage suppression 10 years ago after being in business for almost 30 years. Illegal crews bankrupted me because I couldn't compete. I had a huge overhead, they have none.
That will never happen. Those who hire illegals (big ag) own the politicians.
you obviously don't know how few illegals work in agriculture.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there are approximately 8.3 million illegal workers in the United States. Only 4% of illegal workers work in agriculture
you obviously don't know how few illegals work in agriculture.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there are approximately 8.3 million illegal workers in the United States. Only 4% of illegal workers work in agriculture
My source says 1-2% only. Besides there are unlimited visas for legal, foreign ag workers. The pro-illegals love to use the crop picking argument though.
Who do you think were doing all those construction jobs for a fair wage before millions of cheap illegals flooded our border? Illegal Mexicans did take those jobs from Americans regardless of their race by working for less. If you think their greedy employers are passing any savings on to the consumer you aren't dealing in reality.
I live across the street from a large community that was built by mostly illegal alien Mexicans and they were shabbily built. Many of the homeowners up and left them the workmanship was so poor.
Dont act like the 50's and 60's are the present.People were different coming out of a depression and world wars. Kids graduating today wont and in many cases CANT do the hard labor. I know from experience. I have been in the construction business for over 30 yrs, many of them as a business owner. And no, I never hired illegals because they werent that prevalent in my trade. I had to let white kids go home early on more than one occasion because they couldnt take the heat and hard labor. I had numerous ones simply not show back up after one or two days. Folks that think there are white kids lined up to shovel concrete, lay block, dig ditches etc, in enough numbers to fill the void that will be left by the illegals leaving are simply delusional.
And your comment on employers pocketing the savings simply shows ignorance of reality. Heres a clue. Almost every construction job is a bid job. That means the lowest quote gets the work. The notion that contractors cutting their prices down via using cheaper labor to get jobs are pocketing the difference is, again, a delusional statement from someone who has no clue what he is talking about.
And the illegals have nothing to do with the quality of any work. That is up to their employers and the inspectors. Illegals can do as good or in many cases, better, work than most white kids, or they can do as pizz poor work as their employer demands to cut corners. But quality has nothing to do with illegals.
Your entire post is one made from no actual knowledge of the situation. In my city we cannot hire enough people to keep up, illegal or American citizens. The jobs are there, and in many cases approach 100K a year. But there arent this long line of white people, or black people either for that matter, lining up to take them. This is simply reality, as opposed to the nonsensical talking points of those with no clue what they are talking about. This same situation is being repeated in many other booming cities around the nation. More work than labor to do it, at least in construction.
So where are all these Americans then? Dont tell me they wont come out and work for 50,60-70K or more a year. Thats BS, and thats what a lot of these illegals make. i know some illegals making 100K a year. In many cases they arent there because they work cheap, they are there because white people wont do the jobs they do.
Dont act like the 50's and 60's are the present.People were different coming out of a depression and world wars. Kids graduating today wont and in many cases CANT do the hard labor. I know from experience. I have been in the construction business for over 30 yrs, many of them as a business owner. And no, I never hired illegals because they werent that prevalent in my trade. I had to let white kids go home early on more than one occasion because they couldnt take the heat and hard labor. I had numerous ones simply not show back up after one or two days. Folks that think there are white kids lined up to shovel concrete, lay block, dig ditches etc, in enough numbers to fill the void that will be left by the illegals leaving are simply delusional.
And your comment on employers pocketing the savings simply shows ignorance of reality. Heres a clue. Almost every construction job is a bid job. That means the lowest quote gets the work. The notion that contractors cutting their prices down via using cheaper labor to get jobs are pocketing the difference is, again, a delusional statement from someone who has no clue what he is talking about.
And the illegals have nothing to do with the quality of any work. That is up to their employers and the inspectors. Illegals can do as good or in many cases, better, work than most white kids, or they can do as pizz poor work as their employer demands to cut corners. But quality has nothing to do with illegals.
Your entire post is one made from no actual knowledge of the situation. In my city we cannot hire enough people to keep up, illegal or American citizens. The jobs are there, and in many cases approach 100K a year. But there arent this long line of white people, or black people either for that matter, lining up to take them. This is simply reality, as opposed to the nonsensical talking points of those with no clue what they are talking about. This same situation is being repeated in many other booming cities around the nation. More work than labor to do it, at least in construction.
So where are all these Americans then? Dont tell me they wont come out and work for 50,60-70K or more a year. Thats BS, and thats what a lot of these illegals make. i know some illegals making 100K a year. In many cases they arent there because they work cheap, they are there because white people wont do the jobs they do.
Get a dose of reality there bud.
There are plenty of white adults that were doing those jobs for a fair wage before millions of cheap illegals flooded our border and would do so again. It would be a rarity for illegals to make $100,000 a year doing any blue-collared jobs. They get hired because they work cheap not because there aren't Americans to do those jobs. Why do you keep mentioning "white" kids? It's nonsense that most Americans (white or not) won't do blue-collared jobs for a fair wage. You need a dose of reality there including showing some respect for our immigration laws.
In the long run I think this policy will help all us contractors. We all know that there is more than enough contractors that have cheap labor by paying a bunch of Mexicans close to nothing "under the table" making it difficult for us legit guys to win the bids when we pay decent wages
I think this largely depends on what part of the country you live in. I'm going back 15 years but back then, you could not find an "American" kid to do manual labor. Not even at $15 to start with no knowledge. The Latin Americans filled the gap. They all had "papers" even though most of them were probably illegal.
They were all paid above board at the going rate for the area. The funny thing was, if they were using fake or stolen SS numbers, the government never kicked a one back. Why? My guess was because they were making lots of money from all those withholding taxes that were never claimed. Even the lowest paid employee was bringing home 35-40k a year and not a penny of those taxes were ever reclaimed via a tax return.
I'd like to know how all these contractors today can pay illegals under the table. Unless you're a nickel and dime operation that works only for cash, it was nearly impossible to pay anyone off the books years ago. I can't imagine it's much easier now.
I'm not a contractor but I'm in real estate and if you see how many homes in 2005 are involved in lawsuits due to bad stucco and issues that are a result from the bad way stucco was applied then I can't say we miss the illegals who often were the ones doing these jobs.
Funny you say that. We nearly lost our shirt when we couldn't sell our Toll Brothers home due to moisture behind the stucco. Had to sell in the middle of the real estate downturn and nearly lost $100K to get out. I don't know who to blame. Certainly Toll Brothers. I am not sure if they have ever been taken to court over this.
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