>
>Americans won't allow themselves to be exploited like illegals do,
>but they WILL do the work that illegals do for fair compensation and
>benefits. If Americans did the work that illegals do at higher pay,
>would that benefit the consumer? You bet it would in the long run.
>But many Americans who do not care about America's future are
>consumers who favor the idea of exploiting illegal workers because
>it keeps commodity and service prices down in the short term.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b30c0535a05.htm
[WS:] It seems to be an unsupported opinion, probably fueled by veiled anti-immigrant sentiments. There is an open air market for day labor one block from where I live - about 100+ men gather there daily to be picked up for work, mainly by building contractors. Although most of them appear to be form Latin America, there is also a number of Blacks from the nearby housing project. The going rate is about $15-$20 per hours cash - which means no deductions. I know that because my community organization was once involved in efforts to create a work center for these workers. I also know a lot of people who work at a lower hourly rate from which they also pay taxes.
These observations directly contradict the opinion that Americans would not want the jobs that immigrants take. Many of them do, and besides the "immigrant jobs" often pay better than crappy jobs at supermarkets or fast food joints, staffed mainly by US citizens (or legal residents.)
What I hear from the employer's side is not complaints about excessive compensation demanded by labor, but about the lack of necessary skills. They stand to loose big time if people they hire not show up for work or screw things up all the time. Everything else being equal, immigrants tend to be more reliable in that respects than many native US-ers, and that is why they are preferred by many employers.
Wojtek