Not saying I associate with all of Brokaw's brayings,but as an employer in the metal roofing business In North Texas, I have actually offerred 14 to 15 dollar per hour jobs to young men working behind the counter at fast food joints. I have never found a taker. Admittedly, that is during the summers when willing English speaking metal roofing help is near impossible to find anywhere. In a desperate situation, I went and got almost certainly illegal help, though documents provided indicated otherwise, but I have had to keep my business small and slower because the willing and experienced legal help is rare and older, and my competition isn't as conflicted about hiring illegals, or are big enough that they restrict themselves to higher end jobs with big margins to cover higher wages and benefits. They scoop the shrinking number of willing young citizens along with the military. I started in the '80s and found that the best young workers came from rural areas as I did, but today, even small town kids see outside labor as 'Mexican work', regardless of pay. They like the money, but can't imagine themselves doing the work.
Amazing. Thanks for giving first hand experience. A kid slinging burgers for $7 unwilling to double his pay (and learn a real trade) is astounding.