FA_Q2
Gold Member
The fact that they would maintain at least the minimum wage is irrelevant. Labor is a commodity, no matter how badly some want to deny that reality. As a commodity, the more of it there is, the lower the price without corresponding increases in demand. By importing labor you inherently suppress wages. That is very simple and basic supply and demand.Why do you want to give American jobs away to Mexicans? 95% of the jobs illegals take are not in agriculture. A lot of them are in construction, mining, truck driving - jobs Americans are willing to do, that is. Mexicans should only be given work permit for jobs in Agriculture, picking fruit and vegetables.
I am not really sure that most americans are willing to take the jobs that most Mexicans do ( I am half guessing here, but it would be really interesting to see a statistic on this area) .
My line of thought is that if they were legal, they would have to earn the minimum wage at least ( probably more). What would be de incentive to hire them instead of hiring an American then? Comunicating with mexicans could prove harder during the first months, for example.
If the US continues getting illegals, then adjust the tariffs in the NAFTA.
Just make labour an integral part of NAFTA.
A fence needs a lot of man power and its a really long hot and dry border. Human capital on both sides of the border can be used in much more productive ways.
This would be the pertinent link.
Mexican Guest Workers Take Jobs Few Americans Want
If you have any link which talks about the opposite ( that Mexicans take away jobs which Americans are willing to do ) I would certainly appreciate it, and would probably make me change my current point of view on this matter.
Further, there is no job in existence that Americans are not willing to do. what is really meant by this is that there are jobs Americans are not willing to do for peanuts. Oh well, I guess those strawberries are going to get more expensive. Tough.
We need to import labor as we need to attract intelligent and able people to keep us ahead of competing nations in terms of productivity and innovation. Cheap labor does nothing whatsoever in that goal.