The Mexicans around here get $12 per hour for day labor (in cash). The white guys get about the same or less (taxable), if they show up.
I'm not bigoted, but I work in construction and I see what I see.
I was working as an electrician a few years back, and I joked that the boss only hired me because I had a valid drivers license. Later on I realized that was probably true because every other electrician in his employ had lost his due to a DWI. Several of them were fresh out of jail.
Some of these guys would just "disappear" for two weeks without any explanation, and the boss would never say anything.
Having a work ethic, it was amazing to me that they didn't get fired, but hey, I just worked there.
Frankly, I would hire Mexicans over white trash any time.
A few years back I worked in IT (during the height of the .com era) and it was amazing some of the people they were hiring, and more amazing that they never fired any (at least till the .com bomb happened and they had to lay a bunch off).
Wouldn't it be funny if those electricians were the ones who couldn't get a .com job?
You had to be a real screwup to not get a .com job back then!
The Mexicans around here get $12 per hour for day labor (in cash). The white guys get about the same or less (taxable), if they show up.
Cash payments is a big issue. If contractors aren't paying their portion of payroll taxes because they pay in cash, that means less money to the federal government. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to pay less taxes too but when you consider those employers not paying into the sytem, the federal mandates that require all children get an education regardless of status, federal laws that mandate no one can be turned away from an ER because they don't have medical, those of us, employees and employers who abide by the rules, end up having to pick up the slack. Not exactly a level playing field.