A drought of farm labor

Christian Science Monitor ^ | 12/2/5 | Daniel B. Wood

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

"... and nobody in the county should receive Unemployment or Welfare compensation for any days where any employer in the county has open positions for unskilled labor."

Now THERE is a damn good idea.

[cripplecreek]

It's just like paying for gas. It's called supply and demand all around.

[Marine Inspector]

I was speaking of the employers.

[DumpsterDiver]

This is other side of the story. If people don't want to work then what are these guys supposed to do?

These farmers are finding out the hardway that illegal aliens won't be picking their crops when they can get better work elsewhere for better wages.

Consider this their wake-up call to either start investing more in mechanization or to raise the wages.

They have no divine right to cheap labor nor do they have first dibs on every Mexican who illegally crosses that border.

[NC28203]

Higher wages may not attract much local labor because the term of employment is short. Most of the migrant laborers will spend short periods of time in a location moving up and down the coast harvesting different crops. People that are settled in an area are not likely to take up the migrant lifestyle despite the higher wage. Sounds like it is time for mechanization.

[Sterco]

Illegals to farmers " we don't to vegetables anymore, we do construction". "Pick your own damn vegetables".

[ChiefJayStrongbow]

Strategy:

- no illegals allowed ... Huge fine and huge award to the person that turns them in

- can bring in guest worker for short period of time But must post a bond of $200,000 per worker, to be forfeited if the guest worker does not leave the country when period expires. Employer must maintain minimum $1,000,000 liability insurance per guest worker and accepts all liability for guest worker

- Before an employer can hire a guest worker, they must advertise the open position and must post the position in the unemployment office. If a qualified citizen applies for the position, and the employer brings in a guest worker, than the employer can be sued by the citizen. Qualified citizens that are interested in the position but feel that the proposed compensation is too little may negotiate compensation with the prospective employer. If the employer elects to bring in a guest worker because they feel that the negotiated compensation is too onerous, then the employer may be sued. The burden, in all cases, resides with the employer.

- (Based on locale) Before a person receives unemployment, their capacity for performing different types of work will be evaluated. If an open position is posted with the unemployment office and none of the qualified people in the vicinity who are receiving unemployment step forward to take the job, then none of those qualified people will receive unemployment for that day.

Some employers may pay more but, as a country, we would receive benefits by lowering unemployment, enhancing our tax base, reducing illegal immigation and all the problems associated (crime, burden on school/hosptal costs, uninsured drivers, etc.). Also, if the cost to employers gets too high, we may develop high tech solutions for worker replacement which will lead to a wave of better paying high tech jobs.

[theBuckwheat]

Libs try to have it both ways. This is a formula for failure.

They seem to want almost unrestricted immigration of Mexicans, "doing jobs that American's don't want".

Yet, they complain about the low wages at Wal-Mart, or the "lack of jobs" that pay a "living wage".

What is ignored is the connection between a flood of low-skilled labor willing to take any job and how this depresses the wages employers are willing to pay.

If the US could control its borders and allow only a measured number of workers into the country, the simple law of supply and demand would cause wages to rise until people were attracted to the job. Otherwise the employer would find other ways to get the job done, such as through the use of capital and equipment.

Yes, some prices would rise. But our security is more important than having inexpensive lettuce on every burger. A side benefit of this would be more Americans with low skills would find jobs that paid enough to entice them out of the underground economy.

[taxed2death]

"I lost $250,000 because of this problem last year"


Obviously you are not offering to pay what the market will support. If your business model relies on hiring illegals and breaking the law, you shouldn't be in business.

[one more state]

Illegals to farmers " we don't to vegetables anymore, we do construction". "Pick your own damn vegetables".

I could not have said it better myself. When are these farmer going to learn. No one wants to pick cotton.

[jwpjr]

My brother-in-law is a 'farmer' with a master's degree in agriculture. He has assured me for years that there is nothing farmers would like more than a mechanical alternative to having real people harvest their crops. And they have it in a lot crops, like soybeans, cotton, etc. But when it comes to relatively delicate crops like tomatoes and strawberries there simply isn't an alternative. He points out that using robotics for things like making cars is pretty sensitive since the robotic device is doing EXACTLY the same thing, in the same place over and over and over. Even then, they manage to screw up and mess up a production run. There is no comparison between the controlled environment of an auto plant production floor and an open field of tomatoes in Florida or California.

The truth is we really don't know what effect drying up the supply of illegal labor would have on the various industries that are dependent on it. Even if you could find citizens willing to work for the relatively low wages of picking crops and willing to move from state to state several times a year, there are probably not enough of them to do the job.

The way to find out is to clamp down on the supply and see what happens. It probably won't be as bad, or as good, as either side predicts.

[mr_hammer]

Exactly!

Another thought, isn't this capitalism?

Oh, I see. Your business has to break the law to make a profit. Hell, anyone can do that. Just ask the 16 year old on the street corner selling crack how profitable breaking the law is.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

"It's just like paying for gas. It's called supply and demand all around."

Lettuce is not as necessary for going about one's business as gasoline is. Above a certain (and most likely low) price, demand drops to zero.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

"The way to find out is to clamp down on the supply and see what happens. It probably won't be as bad, or as good, as either side predicts."

One side effect that would be likely to happen is trigger a massive (and overdue) meltdown of the California real estate market, as some of the big REITs own many acres of farmland.

[rolling_stone]

mechanization
http://are.berkeley.edu/APMP/pubs/lmd/html/wintspring_99/LMD.8.1.transition.html

cost of labor for lettuce
about 7% of retail price 35% of production cost

[BurbankKarl]

And this morning the county issues a "WASH ALL LETTUCE" warning because people all over are getting hepatitis A

[gubamyster]

ping

[Mamzelle]

Maybe the "guest workers" have learned they can do better with illegal construction jobs.

[Nat Turner]

This is other side of the story. If people don't want to work then what are these guys supposed to do?

They got three choices

• Grow Less

• Raise Pay

• Use Machines

Gotta love capitalism

[jackbenimble]

We heard most of this whinging, whining and gnashing of teeth from the farmers back in 1965 when we ended the Bracero Program. They warned us about $5 tomatoes. What actually happened was that the tomato harvest was automated, productivity and production soared, the prices of tomatoes dropped and the American standard of living rose. Scarcity is the mother of invention and a high standard of living is very closely associated with high labor productivity. We don't need cheap labor; we need productive labor. Americans used to understand that. Now the only thing our business leaders seem to understand is pseudo-slave labor. I think if we catch these people with illegals in their workforce we should seize their assets and turn them over at auction to somebody with a business model that includes obeying the law.