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Originally Posted by Jeremiah
What about cleaning fish on the docks in Maine? Those jobs provide low wages, no insurance, and no guarantee of a day's work, or in the alternative, a night's rest. In other words, one might clean for an hour or 16 hours on any given day. The fishermen say that Americans won't do those jobs, and I wouldn't doubt that, given the above conditions.
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I think it's a fallacy to assume that there are no Americans willing to do the jobs. Also, I think, as Lowry suggested, if there is a shortage of labor the market will compensate by either innovating or by offering a higher wage to the workers to induce them to enter the labor market.
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In an informal "study" [about 10 years ago] I recall driving around with my buddy the salesman of moving services. He'd see a person with a sign asking for money. My buddy would offer him a job in the warehouse, about $7/hr, and 10-12 hour day. Hard work, but not by any means a job that isn't desirable. He couldn't give these jobs away. And these folks were homeless!
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I don't think that's a very scientific "study." Did your buddy go to the unemployment office and make the jobs available? Did he advertise anywhere for to fill those jobs? Or are you just saying that the guy with the sign asking for money didn't want the job? Because if that's what you're saying, it may well be that the guy with the sign was making MORE than $7.00 per hour! (The ones here locally do, from what I understand.)
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So what happens in Maine when the undocumented workers are deported, never to return? We get "On the Waterfront" again, or, you and I pay more for our salmon or our tuna, or don't buy it at all. I'm not against paying more if that means that workers are getting a living wage, but my budget only goes so far, I like fish, and the companies are just passing the costs to the consumers instead of treating the prohibition on hiring undocumented workers as the cost of business. There are already heavy restrictions on ex-felons getting jobs, put even harsher restrictions on the undocumented, i.e., they can't work here, and your workforce shrinks considerably.
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Your assumption, though, is that the cost for salmon or tuna will go spiraling upward and out of control. I'm not sure we can make that assumption.