Wages rise on California farms. Americans still don’t want the job.

[Speaker to Animals]

You did not even read the post, replying not twenty seconds after I posted.

You are wasting our time.

[jediuser598]

There seems to be a lot of folks dissing on the American worker these days. (not anyone in this thread)

I agree with DB here:

Love how Americans are working in mines, on remote cell tiwers, on oil platforms, and crabbing in arctic waters, but they obviously won’t do farm labor because it’s hard and can take place in “extreme” temperatures (never mind that plants don’t grow in extreme temperatures).

Americans do a lot of tough jobs. Crab fishing, is not an easy job. It's also a dangerous job.

From a quick search, the wage is "At the end of a season, crewmen can bring home as much as $20,000 to $50,000 for three months of work."

The only reason these farm jobs exist as they do is because importing labor makes the businesses possible, whereas if they didn't import labor, they'd instead just automate the whole thing.

This disparaging tone I hear from some folks I talk to on a normal basis, about the American worker, shows they don't really know the American worker at all. Anyone whose done factory work, know what kind of shit people put up with on a daily basis. Worked at this one plant where workers were inhaling plastic fumes from injection molding (got the worst headache of my life from it), yet those factories were the only thing keeping that town alive. They paid, starting out, $9 an hour. They were not light work. In the summer it was so hot in there (I had quit by that time) that one worker complained about the conditions, so instead of fixing it they took the thermometer off the wall.

I don't really like the tone I'm getting from people who are crowing that Americans, in general, are lazy.

[DBTrek]

You did not even read the post, replying not twenty seconds after I posted.

You are wasting our time.

Maybe professional writers read faster than (supposed) economic minors. How long does it normally take you to read three short paragraphs?

[Speaker to Animals]

The wages have to rise commensurate with the labor supply.

It should not surprise you that the states that encourage illegal workers are the same states that suddenly need to raise minimum wage because people are becoming working homeless. Things that make you go hmmm..

If you are upset about low wages and strugglingAmericans, consider the effect of gutting the supply of a product (and labor is a product sold on a market).

[Speaker to Animals]

You did not even read the post, replying not twenty seconds after I posted.

You are wasting our time.

Maybe professional writers read faster than (supposed) economic minors. How long does it normally take you to read three short paragraphs?

Okay. Whatever, dude.

[Kath]

. In the summer it was so hot in there (I had quit by that time) that one worker complained about the conditions, so instead of fixing it they took the thermometer off the wall.

That knowledge, along with a company name, would give any OSHA agent who needed to generate revenue, a giant boner.

[doc_loliday]

Maybe if the cost of living wasn't so high in CA $20/hr. would be enough. If you offer that much to people in most other states you'd get Americans willing to work those jobs.

The cost of living isn't high where the crops are grown in California. It's quite reasonable actually, and in some place downright cheap.

[Speaker to Animals]

What is the minimum wage in California?

Subtract what the industrial farms are paying fro. that wage. If it's near-zero, then maybe a worker is better off selling lattes.

Supply and demand work in the labor market too!

[DBTrek]

I don't really like the tone I'm getting from people who are crowing that Americans, in general, are lazy.

That’s because you know it’s bullshit. You know Americans don’t fear temperatures or hard labor. You know Democrats are just shining you on about how we “need” illegal labor to do jobs Americans won’t do. Let price point driven markets determine the value of agricultural goods and you’ll see how much an Apple is REALLY worth to the consumers. It may not be worth growing at all, once American labor prices are calculated. Meaning we’d either go apple-less, or import apples at a rate that makes them valuable to the American consumer.

But what we have now is a scam. The government will BUY numerous commodities from farmers at a fixed price, due to dust bowl era subsidies that never expire. So farmers don’t have to worry about what consumers will pay for a crop, they KNOW what the government will pay for it. They also know by exploiting illegal labor, they can make the government’s buying price highly profitable for themselves (much more so than using legal labor).

So here we are, a bullshit racket of farmers exploiting illegal labor to sell unneeded crops to the government, so our tax dollars can warehouse the excess food till it rots while locking our own working poor out of agricultural jobs.

Or as Democrats would say - illegals keep food prices low and they aren’t terrified by hard work like Americans. Lulz.

[Speaker to Animals]

And then there is the cancer that is the urbanization of America. LOTS of Americans cannot imagine leaving cities even though the cities make their lives a hell.