The reality is: what’s under discussion is large-scale inflows of unskilled workers. What could go wrong?

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 10:59 pm by Jane the Actuary

The reality is: what’s under discussion is large-scale inflows of unskilled workers. What could go wrong? 2015-02-26T22:59:29-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Sorry for the long post title — and the somewhat rambly post below, but I wanted to get a few thoughts down.

Remember when the peso crashed? Wikipedia tells me this happened in 1994. In the wake of this economic crisis in Mexico, I distinctly remember reading newspaper articles (because this was pre-internet) about professionals in Mexico who humbled themselves to work unskilled jobs in the United States.

Around that time, too, there were articles about Poles and other Eastern Europeans who had left their home country and overstayed their visas here following the upheaval of the post-Cold War transition from communism to democratic/capitalistic governments. Highly educated, their education was going to waste because they weren’t legally authorized to work in the United States, so ended up doing day-labor construction or working as maids/housecleaners.

In such a case, legalizing the illegal workers could be deemed to be a big “win” because their skills could finally be put to use. But this doesn’t seem to be the case any longer. It seems to me that lots of illegal Eastern Europeans have returned home, where their economies have rebounded and, even if not, they now have the opportunity to work elsewhere in Europe (e.g., Germany, the U.K.). A couple years ago, a realtor-friend of mine told me, as explanation for why so many condos from a certain complex were on the market at such low prices, that this was an area that had been popular with Eastern Europeans who packed up and left.

Now, we really seem to be talking exclusively about unskilled workers, Obama’s infamous (just ask twitter) reference to the bed-makers and bedpan-emptiers.

And it’s not just Obama — many Republicans have this notion of creating a guest-worker program, and they seem to have in mind the Middle Eastern oil states when thinking of this, where they certainly do import massive numbers of workers (up to 90% of the workforce), with the requirement that you stay only as long as you have a job, have no eligibility for any form of welfare for you or your dependents, and leave before you come anywhere close to retirement age.

But we’re not the UAE, rich enough to support our own citizens through government largesse, whether or not they’re capable of holding down a comfortable middle-class job, or capable of dictating to employers that they hire local citizens for a minimal percent of their workforce, and that these workers can sit around all day, in the same way as the proverbial boss’s son who doesn’t do squat.

Consider the poster child of “jobs Americans won’t do”: farm labor of the most manual sort, harvesting produce. Do Americans not do this job because they don’t a sufficient work ethic, or are by dint of upbringing unable to tolerate the working conditions? That’s only part of it. Consider not just the working but the living conditions of these workers, and tell me that it’s just fine for human beings to live in squalor for the sake of cheap lettuce.

In the year 2014, we are incessantly told that a quality education is vital for our children to succeed. Worry about our children’s success keeps us up at night. But we know that there are no guarantees in life, that our children could end up at a minimum wage job, either because of a poor job market or because, as happens sometimes, all our parenting effort just doesn’t have the outcome we’d like.

And that “we” is the upper-middle-class “we” — and ignores the large number of Americans who, like it or not, are not and may never be qualified for anything other than an unskilled job, maybe even one that doesn’t ask too much in terms of physical effort or conscientiousness or initiative.

It may be that over time, we may reach a point where more unskilled jobs open up, and where labor shortages have ill effects in terms of too-high wage growth or inability to hire at all. But that’s not where we are in the year 2014.

What we’re looking at here is an objective of creating a new Servant Class, of enabling Americans once again to have a low-cost maid or nanny or landscaper, as was the norm in the pre-Civil Rights South, or in the 1900s in the North, when every household had their Irish servants.

Is that moral? Is that right? Perhaps the prospective servants would be just fine with trading their Third World life for this, but is it right for Americans to dream of a subservient workforce? And does it make any sense to foreclose, for the struggling American working class and poor “underclass”, potential avenues of employment and independence, just so that those who have “made it” aleady get their cheap workforce?

Uncategorized

immigration

Previous Post

November 21, 2014

What now? A couple thoughts

Next Post

November 24, 2014 Update on Scouting

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am an animal that chews the cud and has split hooves. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

An unclean animal A clean animal A protected animal A sacrifical animal