Undocumented Workers and Low Cost Labor: cheap domestics for the protected classes

[Hannah Bell]

Morning Edition had a piece on people who hire undocumented workers to do tasks like landscaping their yards or cleaning their toilets. It quoted one person as saying that they hire immigrants rather than U.S. citizens or green card holders because she "believes American prices are inflated."

The article doesn't tell listeners what any of the employers in the piece do, but it is an absolute certainty that there would be a huge number of qualified people around the world who would be willing to do their jobs at a much lower wage than they receive. However, most people who work in occupations requiring more education enjoy much more protection from immigrant workers than people who landscape yards or clean toilets.

The position of the people interviewed in this piece is that they are entitled to protection from competition to keep their wages high, while they should be able to hire workers from the developing world at low wages to save money. It would have been helpful if the piece had elucidated their view more clearly.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/undocumented-workers-and-low-cost-labor

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Deport all the 'illegals'!

...except for the one who's trimming my hedges and the ones who are building my room addition and the one who's watching my kids and...

[DesertFlower]

2. my landscaper is hispanic.

he gives me a price before he starts the work and i always pay him more than he asks.

[rustydog]

3. I still believe that the focus has to be on the employers who recruit

Illegal aliens as a cheap labor pool.

There was a report a couple of weeks back of a fruit warehouse in Wenatchee, WA being sued by two illegal immigrants who worked for the company for over 8 years. They contend the fruit company knew the two were illegal because for 8 years the two got periodic letters from the HR office stating their social Security Number was not legit. both would provide another number and continue working. It was only when both were hurt on the job and put in a work-injury claim that the warehouse turned them in as illegal!

Who is the bad guy here?

Seize the companies that recruit and hire illegal immigrants and SELL that company to a competitor who plays by the rules. We seize drug dealers cars, homes, guns and CASH, why not treat these companies like the scum they are...human traffickers.

Seize the law care company, seize the construction company, orchards, warehouses any business that seeks out, advertises in mexico for and hires Illegal immigrants. Do this enough and companies will stop radio and print ads south of the border telling them to come work in America. if there are no jobs here, the Illegal immigration flow just may begin to become a trickle...

We'll never know until we try. What we are doing now is not working at all.

[Hello_Kitty]

4. Shit, plenty of DUers think this way.

When you talk about wage suppression and exploitation they express concerns about the cost of lettuce going up.

[Hannah Bell]

5. though labor cost is, in most industries, actually a small portion of cost.

in autos, for example, most of the $$ goes to capital.

[Scuba]

6. We can't trust illegals....

...except to prepare our food and care for our children.

[blindpig]

7. Capitalist mentality

k&r