Actually, he's a crane operator. He drills the holes down in the ground to support the columns on large bridges and then he runs the crane that lifts the beams up to the ironworkers. He has a lot of respect for iron workers and they have a lot of respect for him. They're never afraid to ride the mancage if he's the one operating the crane because they trust him and know him to be a safe operator. Yep, it's a highly skilled occupation and so far illegals haven't been able to horn in on it.
I'm not familiar with the employment picture in the St. Louis area. Are there a lot of illegals over there yet? Here in rural Southwest Missouri there aren't yet, unless they're hiding out on some of the big farms and ranches around here.
Employment isn't too bad right now. There is still a lot of manufacturing going on in the area for Boeing and other defense contractors. That is the field I'm in.
Up until recently the flow of illegals has been slow. Hispanics are easy to spot here in North County since its practically all black and white and I've lived here all my life. Its now starting to change somewhat.