Michael Lee Portnoy 11/28/16
Werner Wed 9:30 Research Article
Where exactly is the proof that South American and Mexican immigrants are stealing United States jobs? This question floats around with many liberals in this country, and I know some conservatives think it too, though they seem to casually just go with the general flow stating that Mexicans are stealing our jobs. When it comes to labor force participation, the argument has a certain appeal, as Kenneth Megan at the Bipartisan Policy Center notes in a recent paper on immigration and labor force in The Fiscal Times. Since the year 2000, the percentage of adults living, yet not born in the U.S. has jumped up significantly, while the number of American adults rose only a small percentage. Part of this small rise is because Americans are having less and less children every generation, while other countries don’t seem to be slowing down the birth rate. However, labor force participation among those two groups has diverged sharply over that time. “In 2000, both reported a labor force participation rate of 67%. Since then, the immigrant population’s participation rate has dropped only to 66%, while the American rate has dropped all the way to 62%.”(Robert Garver of The Fiscal Times)
It makes for a compelling argument that the increased presence of immigrant workers is keeping American workers from finding jobs. However, that argument is flawed. Otherwise disregarding everyone verbally attacking immigrants during this past election , there is no clear evidence that immigration has brought forth a decline in American employment or labor force participation. The big difference in workforce participation is that, faced with a frustrating job search or other life events that make dropping out of the workforce a possible choice, American workers are simply more likely to have more options, doors to open, and government support than an immigrant does.
My main belief, working in the restaurant industry for years now, many of these so called degrading jobs, Americans refuse to do, yet refuse to believe Americans need immigrants in the country to do these jobs. Even dinner at my grandma’s last week, people around the table seemed to disagree with me and say Americans need these jobs that the Mexicans are stealing. I went along with it and asked them all, would you guys want to come work in my restaurant, we’re hiring a dishwasher? They all looked at me like I had four heads when I told them the pay would be $500 a week to work a 72 hour work week. No one spoke another word of the subject that night. My point proven, no Americans will take these jobs. Americans, it seems, are also less willing to take stressful jobs that require lots of training and long hours, and that require them to work in unpleasant environments. For example, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing is warning of a nursing shortage. A survey I read from the American Hospital Association says there are 100,000 nursing vacancies in the United States. It’s not like the illegal immigrants can take these nursing jobs anyway, they would need legal papers and proper educations in this country.
Spending days and days on end sitting at starbucks on a rigorous job hunt is also work that many Americans avoid. I’m not saying no Americans do it but many could look a lot harder compared to hispanic men who line up in front of train stations and highways before the crack of dawn every morning just to find work. Some luck out and get a job for the day or for the week, while others just stand and wait there 12 hours with no job and end up going home with no money to support and feed their families.
What the United States of America would like Central and South America to know is that they are one of the leading causes of our economic deficit our country is facing today. Many of them take low-skill jobs likes flipping burgers or mowing lawns for wages that would otherwise be insulting for non-Mexicans. What a good portion of the republican and conservative parties believe is they’re stealing our jobs. Every day. Why would someone hire a skilled landscape artist to redo the front lawn for $100 per hour when we can just hire seven Mexicans to do it for $10 an hour with the division of labor? They wouldn’t; it’s more expensive. Mexicans are taking all the jobs teenagers and high schoolers should be taking to develop a good work ethic. Mexicans take jobs like flipping burgers, painting houses, washing dishes, making pizza, and mowing lawns. Mexicans need to stop taking our jobs. We need to start a war on Mexicans.
At this rate, you know what else Americans should hate for stealing jobs? Machines. A single machine can effectively do the work of a twelve Americans chopping vegetables and washing dishes or manufacturing cars on an assembly line. Why pay 20 assembly workers at minimum wage even, a $20,000 annual salary when you can just make the one-time expense of buying some machine for $250,000 that will last for five plus years? A smart businessman wouldn’t, it has no financial logic. It’s just one-tenth of the cost, and machines don’t call in sick, or start drama with other machines, or take vacations. Machines are taking all the jobs many hardworking Americans need to put food on the table for their families. We have ATMs taking the place of bank tellers who could be making 11-15 dollars an hour, assembly machines putting together cars rather than auto-mechanics who could be making 80 thousand dollars a year. Machines need to stop taking our jobs. We need to start a war on machines.
You know what else I hate for taking American jobs? The Internet. The Internet allows us to instantly access anything and everything all around the world, including paying our bills electronically, and buying clothes from already existing stores, but their virtual versions. Look at blockbuster, one of the largest booming company in the movie at home business. Netflix completely shot it down to the ground and took the life from it, not Mexicans. What about Borders Book Shop? Amazon knocked them right out because who goes shopping for physical books anymore that cost 40 bucks if they can just buy it on their personal tablet for 20?. Plus, the Internet doesn’t have families, or need a raise or health care benefits. The Internet is taking away jobs from librarians at libraries, clerks at stores, and, with people only using email now and everyone who still uses snail mail will be dead in the next 20 years, even letter carriers working for the postal service will have no need for work. The Internet needs to stop taking our jobs. We need to start a war on the Internet.
The point I’m trying to make is, I don’t understand why there is so much anger and blame towards low-skilled Hispanics taking low-skilled jobs for lesser pay. They’re not “stealing” jobs. When I think of a Mexican stealing a job, I think of a white person walking out of a Dunkin Donuts with their head held high because of their new promotion as a shift leader, and then a group of Mexicans attacking him and physically grabbing the job out of his hands as if it were as tangible as a bag of money. This country has changed much over the past few decades. My parents got their jobs because of their qualifications and educations, but this generation has changed the game forever. No one is going to hire someone for more money to do the same job because it’s moral or because they may be more qualified. It’s called JOB COMPETITION, and if your method of competing means you are willing to work for just enough to afford a make-shift apartment, three meals a day and a christmas present for your kids, you win.
On the other hand, here’s a great idea, read a book and gain experience in some field that has a light at the end of the tunnel so that your opportunities aren’t mowing a lawn or filling up people’s gas tanks. I’ve never heard my dad who’s been a Financial Advisor for over twenty years complaining and being nervous about immigrants being a threat to his job at the five different firms he’s worked with. Shoot, maybe if you even go as far as getting a master’s or PhD you won’t have to compete for a job because jobs will compete for you.