That one is nonsense. the 3 to 4% who are Unemployable are unemployable because of mental or emotional handicaps, criminal behavior or other dysfunctional/handicap behavior. The idea that they can be "reeducated" is based on a failure to understand the problem. EVERY society has it "unemployable". It is result of nature, not a lack of Govt Intervention in their lives that makes it so. So there will always be a % of your population who are on the margins no matter what you do.
"Automation"
Many Economic functions cannot be automated. For example, you cannot automate Block Laying. It is a labor intensive hard dirty but well paying job. Most labor intensive employers have trouble finding good, hard working reliable AMERICANS to show up and do the work. That is why most of the crews you see have at least one Hispanic or other foreign born. The Antis can rant all they want but the post WW2 generations simply do not want to work that hard. They see manual labor as a step down, not a step up. Really funny considering some of the best paid people in our society do Construction work.
As someone who has worked Construction I assure you, MOST of your Native born who work in those jobs are marginally employables. They are completely unreliable. They have a poor work ethic, they have drug and alcohol problems, they only show up for work about 70% of the time, they have an entitlement mentality and problem with authority figures. Perfect Democrats in other words.
Also, Automation is a function of the Free Market. You cannot "Force" automation. IF there were a way to automate most functions the illegals do, they would of been automated. The most expensive machine is still more reliable and less trouble then any a gang of human employees. Plus you get the depreciation write off and don't have to pay for all the bennies, holidays, medical leave and time off.
Off shoring? How do you off shore Carpentry, Block work, Landscaping etc etc etc? So off shoring is NOW a "good thing"? Better then immigration? Economically that is a nonsense argument. You do not want to reduce your level of economic activity you want to increase it. The more increase the better. Immigration increases economic activity for a society, off shoring decreases it by moving the activity to a different society. In this case the suggest "cure" really is worse then the disease.
Stop doing stuff? Again, decreases the level of economic activity. The Free Market, not a Govt Bureaucrat, decides what economic activity is needed or not needed. This one would most assuredly be worse then the disease. Micromanaging the economy on this scale is the sort of thing Commies try. It does not work. It creates massive poverty, an equality of misery, repression and a completely dysfunctional society.
So only number 2 works out of all of your 5 points. 2. Legal (and tightly controlled) immigration
In my area I am friends with a local businessman who has a window resotration business, mainly for historic and government buildings. He has his restored windows done in Peru and shipped back here. Most of crew installing the windows here are from El Salvador.
So off shoring is NOW a "good thing"? Better then immigration? Economically that is a nonsense argument. You do not want to reduce your level of economic activity you want to increase it. The more increase the better.
You offshore what makes sense. We now have skilled and high tech jobs being offshored. X-RAYs are being sent electronically to Indian radiologists. Indian software firms are being contracted for services along with call answering etc. If I have a problem with my AOL software or want to file a claim against Travelocity, I have someone from India handling my inquiry.
Immigration increases economic activity for a society, off shoring decreases it by moving the activity to a different society. In this case the suggest "cure" really is worse then the disease.
If that were the case, let's just open the borders up and let everyone come in, no restriction on numbers. Of course there has to be limits. There is also a cost factor for immigrants, especially the poor and undeducated. It is ILLEGAL immigration that is the problem. It represents unfair competition and skews the marketplace.
The Antis can rant all they want but the post WW2 generations simply do not want to work that hard. They see manual labor as a step down, not a step up. Really funny considering some of the best paid people in our society do Construction work.
These generalizations are nonsense. Americans work harder than most of the world's workers and are the most productive. You can work hard without doing manual labor. And most of the manual labor in America is being done by American citizens. The idea that America can't exist without the explotation of poor, undeducated illegal immigrants is a lie foisted on us by the Chamber of Commerce.
I await the day when we start importing large supplies of skilled labor. The bleating we hear about raising the H1B visa cap from 65,000 to 115,000 under the Senate bill will be nothing once our elites decide that we should get most of our scientists, computer technicians, doctors, nurses, etc. from abroad.