There is a a job in screen printing called "catcher." The person stands at the end of the dryer and literally catches the freshly printed t-shirts and puts them in piles by size. Someone else packs and ships them. The job requires a lot of standing and is pretty dull.
We cannot find "American" teenagers or young people who are willing to do this job for less than $10 per hour. The Hispanic friends of people that already work for us, and who are legal, are willing to do the job for $7 per hour. Our competition, who we know are using undocumented workers, is paying them $4 to $5 per hour for the same work. Some of our workers used to work for him, but as soon as they got their papers, they looked for work elsewhere.
Cost of labor is about 15 to 20% of our product cost. Raise our labor costs by a third and it will have a HUGE impact on our prices to the consumer.
I am all for legal immigration. The situation, as it exists now, gives an edge to employers willing to use illegals. I say allow a "legal" conduit, crack down on employers using illegals, and then you can close the borders and silence your critics on both sides.
$20K a year for complete;y unskilled labor?
Hell, my first professional job (i.e., requiring a degree) only paid $25K, and it wasn't that long ago.
I say allow a "legal" conduit, crack down on employers using illegals,.....
If we are not enforcing the existing laws that prohibit hiring illegals now, why should people expect that after the guest worker amnesty program begins, those laws will suddenly be enforced?