Wage Discussion Thread

[barnabas1969]

Well how else do you expect me to drunk-text people?

Drunk dialing is soooo much more fun than drunk texting!

[barnabas1969]

So more on topic what are your thoughts on menial labor tasks mostly filled by illegal immigrants?

There is no reason why the positions need to be filled by ILLEGAL immigrants. If more workers are needed, more could be allowed in legally. I understand the post was sarcastic but I'm trying to distract myself from my extremely moody 6 year old.

Half-jest. I always find this dynamic of our economy extremely interesting, where business owners complain about the inability to afford the necessary workers and how legal citizens are not always as interested in taking the available job let alone working as hard sometimes (I take this information from some of the complaints farmers and others in similar industries voice whenever some states attempt some immigration reform that results in deporting and discouraging illegals from remaining in said region).

So if we were to open up to a free market system with less regulation what would be stopping a race to the bottom in terms of wages for areas like this when even WITH regulation you already see this occurring. Would our general society still find these kind of jobs demeaning and below us and be unwilling to take the jobs on at the same rate of pay as illegal immigrants (migrant workers) tend to do?

So, young people are willing to work at McDonald's for 7.25/hour, but they're not willing to go outdoors and pick fruits/vegetables for $8.50/hour? Holy crap... what a bunch of lazy asses. And the illegals are happy to do it! That's sad.

Here's a story for you... my wife grew up in Romania. When she was a kid, they were REQUIRED to go work in the fields to pick fruits/vegetables. They got paid for it, but not much. It was REQUIRED. Hmmm... adults requiring their kids to go work. What a concept!

[lithium630]

You know when I was a kid, I had to walk to school.. up hill both ways.. in the snow.. and I was grateful.

[barnabas1969]

Yeah, up to your arm pits, right?

No, this is true... in Romania, the kids are required to work in the fields during the summer for the harvest.

[werds]

So, young people are willing to work at McDonald's for 7.25/hour, but they're not willing to go outdoors and pick fruits/vegetables for $8.50/hour? Holy crap... what a bunch of lazy asses. And the illegals are happy to do it! That's sad.

Here's a story for you... my wife grew up in Romania. When she was a kid, they were REQUIRED to go work in the fields to pick fruits/vegetables. They got paid for it, but not much. It was REQUIRED. Hmmm... adults requiring their kids to go work. What a concept!

You wouldn't imagine the amount of complaints I hear some of my high school students give about their work schedule (too many hours they claim). How hard it is (we are talking about working in fast food or movie theatres) and I don't believe I have more than a handful that work in any form of janitorial work (and these tend to have immigrant family backgrounds within the last 2 generations). There is a small subset of students who grow up on farms and help on their family farm but that is because I live in a rural area, but the ones that are from the more urbanized city neighborhoods definitely wouldn't and don't put in this level of effort and time (god forbid they would have to be up before the sun!).

It's just interesting to always hear people complain about difficulty finding a job yet they are unwilling to take something they might deem beneath them. But then again I come from an immigrant back ground (I am first generation immigrant with dual citizenship)

[STC]

^ I'm a what's termed as a landed immigrant here in Canada (from the UK).
Whilst my application was in progress and I was in the US entering Canada, a border services agent called me a 'legal alien'.

Great to be classed like that eh?!

[barnabas1969]

My wife came here from Romania to work on a fishing barge in Alaska at a time when interest rates in Romania were skyrocketing. Unlike in the US, a mortgage in Romania is not "fixed rate" and does not have a "ceiling rate"... so her choices were to lose her home (and ruin her father's credit worthiness, because he signed on her loan), or to work here in the US. For those of you who don't know, it's extremely rare in Romania for a single woman to buy her own home... and they don't have credit bureaus like we do in the US... so the lending decision is entirely up to the bank manager.

The highest paying job available to her was on a fishing barge in Alaska. It was cold, and difficult work. When she first reported to work, they said that no other woman had ever lasted more than 2 weeks. She not only worked the entire season, but returned to work again the next season... and the top manager of the barge wrote her a glowing letter of recommendation... and remains a strong supporter today.

She kept returning to the US year after year, working in a meat packing plant, and a few resorts. She met and married a man in South Florida, only to find out after giving birth to his child that he was a swinger. He tried to deport her, but she persevered. She lived in a homeless shelter for a while, using public transportation to go to work. He took everything... she had no furniture or anything. But she kept moving forward.

She found a job as a nanny, which allowed her to be with her young child 24 hours a day. That's where I met her. She's an amazing woman. Prior to her decision to come to the US for work, she graduated from a Romanian university to become a lawyer, but found the Romanian legal profession to be so corrupt that she was unwilling to continue in it, especially as a woman... because sexual harassment in Romania is on a level that most Americans would never understand.

Before I met her, she applied for permanent resident status, and received her "green card" a couple of years ago. She's on her way to citizenship.

Regarding what Werds wrote above, I've lived in both urban and rural environments... and I've always been willing to do whatever it takes to make money. When I was very young, I delivered newspapers, mowed lawns, and pulled weeds. When I got older, I worked in a grocery store, mowed lawns, and repaired small engines. I don't consider anything "below me". I'll shovel horse manure, as long as it pays enough money to keep a roof over my head and feed my family.

[IownFIVEechos]

Lets bring the debate back to life?

http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/14/smallbu ... d=HP_River