A Test Case for Immigration (can't find unskilled workers for $16.59 an hour )

[Omaha Steve]

http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/03/a_test_case_for_immigration.html

March 25, 2008
A Test Case for Immigration
Posted by TOM BEVAN | E-Mail This | Permalink | Email Author

This is an interesting story. Keith Eckel, the largest tomato grower north of the Mason-Dixon line whose crop accounts for 3/4 of the fresh tomatoes sold in markets from Boston to Washington, is quitting the tomato business over fears that he won't be able to find the 180 workers he needs for harvest. Instead, Eckel is planting grain, which he can harvest by machine with the help of only 5 workers.

Eckel told the Philadelphia Inquirer he was forced to scuttle his tomato business because of Congress's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, saying more and more farmers would follow suit when faced with the prospect of a labor shortage.

Here's the part of the story that caught my attention:

Workers on Eckel's farm averaged $16.59 an hour "and they earned every penny of it," Eckel said.

"No one will harvest tomatoes in 90 degree weather except immigrant labor," he said. And a number of people who worked in his packing house were retired workers picking up a few extra dollars, he said.

We always hear the argument that immigrants do labor that Americans aren't willing to do, and picking tomatoes would certainly seem to fall into that category. But $16.59 an hour seems like a pretty decent average wage, and so the question is whether in a place like Scranton - a metro area with more than 600,000 people and an unemployment rate that jumped seven tenths of a percent in December and is above both the state and national average - Eckel truly cannot find a hundred and eighty legal US citizens who want to make, on average, $16.59 an hour.

FULL story at link.

[acmavm]

1. 'On average'? How does that work?

[harun]

2. Maybe 20 "Managers" at $45 an hour and 140 immigrants at $12.53 an hour (n/t)

[peace13]

3. This is news to me.

My son has a college degree and one year out he earns a handsome $15 an hour. I think he has five friends that make $0 to $9 dollars per hour. Go figure.

[tech3149]

4. When this story was posted the other day it piqued my interest

Thanks for adding to the story. I've done hard work for a hell of a lot less $. If it wasn't on the other side of the state, I'd do the job for $16 and change. Hell I'd probably do it for less cause I love tomatoes.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

5. i call bs

these are temp 4 to 6 week jobs (if that) with no benefits.

Even someone working at the mall will not leave a 10.00 job that is fulltime with bennies to work for less than a month or two.