An Interesting Take on Foreign Aid

[M Paquette]

Like saying "There's a need for several hundred thousand seasonal workers here." (A suspicious number to begin with.) And expecting that to solve the long-term problem of millions.

Something to bear in mind, and a good clue as to why these jobs are hard to fill, is that many of the agriculture jobs are temp work, a few weeks at a time in the planting and harvest season. Folks taking these jobs are often paid piecework rates, so experienced, nimble workers easily do better than the inexperienced folk. Many of these workers are prepared to move from region to region to follow the planting season and harvest, so as to produce a living income.

This is not easy work, and I think people often underestimate the level of skill involved.

 

[haha]

Something to bear in mind, and a good clue as to why these jobs are hard to fill, is that many of the agriculture jobs are temp work, a few weeks at a time in the planting and harvest season. Folks taking these jobs are often paid piecework rates, so experienced, nimble workers easily do better than the inexperienced folk. Many of these workers are prepared to move from region to region to follow the planting season and harvest, so as to produce a living income.

This is not easy work, and I think people often underestimate the level of skill involved.

Back when teachers made less money than they do today, I knew several high school teachers who did the cherry and apple harvests in WA. It was hard work, and involved some danger. Still, do we intend a class in our society for whom we allow no legal paid work so that they will not have to do hard work?

If so, we must reconcile ourselves to the reality that illegals must be a perpetual flow, since as and if they qualify for legal status they will necessarily also qualify for the status allowing no work in lieu of hard work. It isn't that Latins like hard, hot, dusty work- it's that as of yet the illegals among them can't qualify for the no-work option.

Ha

 

[M Paquette]

Back when teachers made less money than they do today, I knew several high school teachers who did the cherry and apple harvests in WA. It was hard work, and involved some danger. Still, do we intend a class in our society for whom we allow no legal paid work so that they will not have to do hard work?

No, that would not be a good idea. (I suspect you feel the same way.)

There is already a labor shortage for migrant farm workers. Removing the illegals would open up more such jobs (along with others in construction temp work and the food service industry, and a bunch of other positions generally classified as 'low-skilled'), but there is currently no motivation to move more legal residents to take up these positions.

Now, whether a carrot or a stick would work better in moving legal residents to take these positions is an entirely different topic. My point is simply that there is a shortage of workers in these areas already, and illegals taking these positions do not appear to be displacing legal residents from these jobs in significant numbers.

For E-R folks, there are currently some openings in the Napa valley for folks to trim vines. (different from the February pruning) Pay is about $1.25/vine, and the work involves trimming the first several buds on a cane and lateral shoots. A good, fast worker can easily make $200/day, supplementing the full time field crews.