Are they stealing our jobs?
Jordan Bowles, Word count-1210
For years and years, conservative capitalists have been saying something that we have all probably heard a multitude of times. Whether it be conservative politicians, business owners, or regular civilians, they have been saying for years that, "If we continue to let illegal immigrants (mostly Mexican) in our country, they are going to continue stealing our jobs and ruining job growth". First of all, it is notable that as an illegal immigrant, you are unable to get any type of job worth fighting for. They usually consist of Mexican restaurants, janitor positions, and specifically for this blog, industrial food jobs.
The food industry, being the top industry in the U.S., is going to demand numbers of people working at the different farms, slaughter houses, and warehouses. Usually the bigger the corporation and industry, the worse the job conditions become. In order to find people that will work hard for low wages in outrageous working conditions, you need to find something that is important to them. As illegal immigrants, or even new citizens who have been granted citizenship, it can be very difficult to find work and the majority of these immigrants and new citizens are Mexican. Along with construction, agriculture is one of the top occupations that immigrants are apart of.
As Americans, we rely so much on immigrants for our food to be farmed, processed, and prepared. The question at hand, being "Are they stealing our jobs?", is a difficult question as there are many variables that we can look at. One of the most important variables at hand, would be the simple fact that Americans do not want these jobs. The conditions of these workplaces are absolutely terrible. Along with the many dangers that come with these jobs, the pay and benefits most certainly do not fit the job description.
The government does not allow dairy farms, or any farms for that matter, to participate in the H2A Agricultural guest program as dairy farming is not a seasonal position, but a year round permanent one. That being said, their only solution is hiring illegal immigrants. This is the reason for the relatively huge portions of agricultural workers being illegal Mexican and Central American immigrants. Immigrants, for many years, have been some of America's hardest working people as they are just thankful for the opportunity to have a life in the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXUdozfL7iM (Could not find link for youtube artifact on blogger)
New York is the biggest producer of Greek yogurt and third largest producer of milk. Congress has continuously fought against making a guest worker program for dairy and this makes things difficult. When you have an industry that demands a lot of workers and no Americans to do them, you now have a high demand for foreign workers and since there is no legal way to do it, farmers become frantic. For the farmers in New York, there is another problem. The Second largest Immigrant detention facilities is in the middle of New York and being that they are a huge producer for dairy, it becomes extra difficult to import immigrants for Dairy Farming and keep the flow of work steady. In the Dairy industry specifically, Immigrants equal fast, efficient and cheap labor. The farmers and business owners in New York are not only scared of losing cheap labor, but potentially losing the only people that will do these horrific jobs. We have seen that, even when available, Americans employed or not will not commit to these jobs and will continue not to as long as conditions stay the same.
Going back to the question of whether or not they are stealing our jobs, the video paints a very vivid picture of the answer. The shifts that Dairy farm workers have to deal with are long and inconvenient. When unemployed workers in New York are asked to fulfill these shifts, they all decline the offer and continue on without work. We also see a group of Puerto Rican fellows at the unemployment office and quickly show willingness to work if it's available. Many of the American citizens asked about the specifics of working there, they immediately showed opposition. Nobody wants to be subject to kicking, feces, and the same work everyday. If you offer these conditions to someone who is lucky enough to be in the country in the first place, the willingness to work usually sky rockets.
The average income for crop workers annually is $10,000-$12,499. One of the most shocking and saddening things to hear from a farmer in the video is, "they are like family". Clearly being careful with the farmers reputation at hand, he states that these immigrants are like family to him, but the whole reason that immigrants make up such a big portion of this industry, is the cheap labor they bring. If they are truly like family to these farmers, why do they pay them wages that are at the Federal poverty line? In short, because they can feed them lies, stating that they are like family, but their well being is irrelevant to the farmers. It is easy to point fingers at the farmers exploiting immigrants with cheap, hard, and dangerous labor, but aren't we just as guilty as lazy Americans? As Americans, we have many rights that immigrants don't get to benefit from. Choosing to be unemployed rather than work in these industries and work at making them more humane, forces farmers and various business owners to turn to illegal and cheap labor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrNtRaa_nWI (Also, could not find artifact on blogger youtube)
To put all of the blame on the United States for exploitation of immigrant workers, would be highly inaccurate. While it seems we might be the source of this behavior, other countries such as Germany are figuring out that with housing and a place better than their origin, cheap and foreign labor is pretty easy to come by. While surrounding countries are not in full effect like Germany and the United States, they are learning that cheap labor will always beat out the competition and they are learning this the hard way. Germany is beating out many countries in Europe because of the cheap agriculture labor they are obtaining and we have seen what will happen next. Other countries will follow suit and begin to exploit foreigners for cheap labor and we will continue this never ending cycle of reward and discipline. We bring them over and praise them for their hard work, just to have them publically shamed and deported back to their home countries.
To answer the question that fed the blog, no, immigrants are not taking American jobs and as we learned, jobs in other countries either. These industries have exploited too many lives at the cost of cheap product and ultimately equating to good financial years. It is a tough fight to raise the conditions and wages, but it has to start somewhere. Unfortunately, history has taught us that the only way to make change is exploiting your own people as well. Sitting back and enjoying the cheap foods is only fueling this never ending circle of harsh treatment. Buying locally, while expensive, will bring down annual revenue for these industries and ultimately force them to make some type of change.
For years and years, conservative capitalists have been saying something that we have all probably heard a multitude of times. Whether it be conservative politicians, business owners, or regular civilians, they have been saying for years that, "If we continue to let illegal immigrants (mostly Mexican) in our country, they are going to continue stealing our jobs and ruining job growth". First of all, it is notable that as an illegal immigrant, you are unable to get any type of job worth fighting for. They usually consist of Mexican restaurants, janitor positions, and specifically for this blog, industrial food jobs.
The food industry, being the top industry in the U.S., is going to demand numbers of people working at the different farms, slaughter houses, and warehouses. Usually the bigger the corporation and industry, the worse the job conditions become. In order to find people that will work hard for low wages in outrageous working conditions, you need to find something that is important to them. As illegal immigrants, or even new citizens who have been granted citizenship, it can be very difficult to find work and the majority of these immigrants and new citizens are Mexican. Along with construction, agriculture is one of the top occupations that immigrants are apart of.
As Americans, we rely so much on immigrants for our food to be farmed, processed, and prepared. The question at hand, being "Are they stealing our jobs?", is a difficult question as there are many variables that we can look at. One of the most important variables at hand, would be the simple fact that Americans do not want these jobs. The conditions of these workplaces are absolutely terrible. Along with the many dangers that come with these jobs, the pay and benefits most certainly do not fit the job description.
The government does not allow dairy farms, or any farms for that matter, to participate in the H2A Agricultural guest program as dairy farming is not a seasonal position, but a year round permanent one. That being said, their only solution is hiring illegal immigrants. This is the reason for the relatively huge portions of agricultural workers being illegal Mexican and Central American immigrants. Immigrants, for many years, have been some of America's hardest working people as they are just thankful for the opportunity to have a life in the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXUdozfL7iM (Could not find link for youtube artifact on blogger)
New York is the biggest producer of Greek yogurt and third largest producer of milk. Congress has continuously fought against making a guest worker program for dairy and this makes things difficult. When you have an industry that demands a lot of workers and no Americans to do them, you now have a high demand for foreign workers and since there is no legal way to do it, farmers become frantic. For the farmers in New York, there is another problem. The Second largest Immigrant detention facilities is in the middle of New York and being that they are a huge producer for dairy, it becomes extra difficult to import immigrants for Dairy Farming and keep the flow of work steady. In the Dairy industry specifically, Immigrants equal fast, efficient and cheap labor. The farmers and business owners in New York are not only scared of losing cheap labor, but potentially losing the only people that will do these horrific jobs. We have seen that, even when available, Americans employed or not will not commit to these jobs and will continue not to as long as conditions stay the same.
Going back to the question of whether or not they are stealing our jobs, the video paints a very vivid picture of the answer. The shifts that Dairy farm workers have to deal with are long and inconvenient. When unemployed workers in New York are asked to fulfill these shifts, they all decline the offer and continue on without work. We also see a group of Puerto Rican fellows at the unemployment office and quickly show willingness to work if it's available. Many of the American citizens asked about the specifics of working there, they immediately showed opposition. Nobody wants to be subject to kicking, feces, and the same work everyday. If you offer these conditions to someone who is lucky enough to be in the country in the first place, the willingness to work usually sky rockets.
The average income for crop workers annually is $10,000-$12,499. One of the most shocking and saddening things to hear from a farmer in the video is, "they are like family". Clearly being careful with the farmers reputation at hand, he states that these immigrants are like family to him, but the whole reason that immigrants make up such a big portion of this industry, is the cheap labor they bring. If they are truly like family to these farmers, why do they pay them wages that are at the Federal poverty line? In short, because they can feed them lies, stating that they are like family, but their well being is irrelevant to the farmers. It is easy to point fingers at the farmers exploiting immigrants with cheap, hard, and dangerous labor, but aren't we just as guilty as lazy Americans? As Americans, we have many rights that immigrants don't get to benefit from. Choosing to be unemployed rather than work in these industries and work at making them more humane, forces farmers and various business owners to turn to illegal and cheap labor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrNtRaa_nWI (Also, could not find artifact on blogger youtube)
To put all of the blame on the United States for exploitation of immigrant workers, would be highly inaccurate. While it seems we might be the source of this behavior, other countries such as Germany are figuring out that with housing and a place better than their origin, cheap and foreign labor is pretty easy to come by. While surrounding countries are not in full effect like Germany and the United States, they are learning that cheap labor will always beat out the competition and they are learning this the hard way. Germany is beating out many countries in Europe because of the cheap agriculture labor they are obtaining and we have seen what will happen next. Other countries will follow suit and begin to exploit foreigners for cheap labor and we will continue this never ending cycle of reward and discipline. We bring them over and praise them for their hard work, just to have them publically shamed and deported back to their home countries.
To answer the question that fed the blog, no, immigrants are not taking American jobs and as we learned, jobs in other countries either. These industries have exploited too many lives at the cost of cheap product and ultimately equating to good financial years. It is a tough fight to raise the conditions and wages, but it has to start somewhere. Unfortunately, history has taught us that the only way to make change is exploiting your own people as well. Sitting back and enjoying the cheap foods is only fueling this never ending circle of harsh treatment. Buying locally, while expensive, will bring down annual revenue for these industries and ultimately force them to make some type of change.
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