Whatever you think about illegal immigration, read this
Associated Press: Help Wanted Ads Go Unanswered in West:
John Francis, who owns the McDonald’s in Sidney, Mont., said he tried advertising in the local newspaper and even offered up to $10 an hour to compete with higher-paying oil field jobs. Yet the only calls were from other business owners upset they would have to raise wages, too. Of course, Francis’ current employees also wanted a pay hike.“I don’t know what the answer is,” Francis said. “There’s just nobody around that wants to work.”
The article doesn’t even mention the word “immigration.” (Well, not by name.) But read it and you will get a picture of what things might be like once the government follows through on this immigration crackdown thing. There has been a big debate on the concept of “jobs Americans won’t do,” but up to now it’s been pretty theoretical. Well, from now on, it won’t be.
(Mickey Kaus has a funny take on this - scroll down - he suspects that the Bush Administration may be trying to accelerate the pain of not fixing the immigration problem.)
A couple weeks back Kafi and I were in Palm Springs. We got lunch at a Wendys. I told Kafi, “This is the future.” In the future, there will be many more older people, given that we are all (on average) living longer. We’ll be living off of retirement pensions and/or small jobs (I saw a bunch of retiree-aged people working at the Palm Springs Lowes Hardware). Behind the counters at the fast food restaurants, manning the service positions at the department stores, etc. are teenagers. They are nice kids. They are not immigrants, and Latinos are not the majority of these fast food works. Though the teens our nice and courteous, they don’t have the ganas, desire, hunger, interest in doing their job so that all the details gets covered. Imagine busy-old-Rudy changing your toilet seat: “Hold your horses, I’ll get around to it, just chill out. I’ve gotta answer these emails, take this call, quell this rebellion, then I’ll get to you.” The service economy is going to be manned by people who are not in the least burdened about giving you the service you think you deserve.
Lately I’ve been waiting to see signs at Jack-in-the-Box with starting salaries of $11 per hour plus benefits. I haven’t seen any. But I’m telling you, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets to that point. And if it does, is that such a bad thing? For everyone who is concerned about a living wage, well, 11 plus benefits is a step in the right direction. Except the cost will be passed on to the consumer. That 2 Tacos for 99 Cents item will likely cease to exist.
I could be wrong about what I’m saying here. But I have a hunch that we as a nation - all of us, regardless of our position on illegal immigration - are going to wish that we figured out this Mexican immigration thing a lot better and a lot quicker.
UPDATE: Unmistakable signs of a very tight labor market over at the blog of Harvard professor George Borjas
posted Aug 25, 2007, 3:11pm by Rodolpho Carrasco
We pay higher taxes anyway to pay for food stamps , healthcare, education, car insurance, police etc,etc, now . It would be cheaper to pay more for two tacos. This is not about food prices or who mows the lawn. It’s about breaking and disrespecting “OUR LAWS”! This country was growing, long before somebody decided to exploit and bring in ILLEGAL cheap labor. And it will continue to do so. Some companies will go into DT’s for a short time, but they will relearn how to do business, the right way in the USA again. So don’t worry your little head over what will happen. They said we would not pay $3.00 a gallon for gas, we did. Stop your repeating your same old tired “SLOGANS”, Americans will work and adjust.
THE USA IS A TOUGH COUNTRY, WE WILL SURVIVE!!!
Great post, Rudy. I cannot agree with you more. I’ve been frustrated with the right and left on the immigration issue. When you look at it with pragmatic eyes, you have to get to the question about wages and the labor market. As the movie “A Day Without A Mexican” suggests, the US will simply not function unless we make a way for those interested in entry level jobs. My ‘folks’ came to the US three generations ago, worked on the NYC docs for low wages, and eventually made their way into the system. One of my family members had the foresight to purchase a seat on the NYSE over 50 years ago - it’s been a boon for our family. I say this to highlight that you cannot and should not underestimate ‘ganas’ and hard work. Immigration is what will make our nation strong, productive and competitive in the world market.
Chertoff reads Rudy’s blog? Probably. That is why I am commenting. Thanks for this post Rudy.
This conversation, in my opinion, is part of a larger North American conversation about economic dualisms or radical discontinuities. It is a radical discontinuity, for example, that the “arts” are left out of one’s domestic economic life or labor, thrown like leftovers to the poor or illegal immigrant. It is a painful dualism that puts laborers and their families against or separated from their work–as when national or international agribusiness (even unwillingly) disintegrates local food economies through their adherence to common “free market” ideals such as Limitless Growth and Corporate Absenteeism. The problem seems to be in the separation; when owners are distant from their work and their neighbors, including illegal immigrants, both the community and the work are exploited and/or diminished.
This is too great a cost. One solution is to better acquaint oneself with “ordinary” labor (i.e., cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, gardening, etc.). This modern age, steeped in placeless comforts and technologies, may deem those pleasures to be low or unsatisfying, but those few who are willing to do for themselves what is commonly considered menial will experience a different kind of community and a different kind of economy. Workers who live within proximity to their work and have small-scale ownership over, at least, some of its value-adding industry tend to make things more carefully and with more loyalty to their neighbors.
Ironically, you won’t hear this opinion discussed much (if at all) among the board members of McDonalds or among Washington political representatives. Just won’t happen. You might be more likely to hear, on the other hand, a schmooze and misdirection about illegal immigration and the jobs that will or won’t be taken away. And that’s not the right conversation.
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That 2 Tacos for 99 Cents item will likely cease to exist.
May it be so. From your finger tips to Michael Chertoff’s ears.