healthmyths
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- Sep 19, 2011
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Unemployment benefit pays $300/week.
Picking apples: $750 a week..
where are the workers in spite of the Washington state 9.1% unemployment?
"Most of the pickers here are migrant workers. An estimated 66,000 are here illegally. That's about 72 percent of all farm hands statewide.
"In this last year, they deported more and arrested more because they don't have a license," said Alfonso Garcia, who has a green card and who has worked these orchards for 24 years. Garcia says increased border security and crackdowns on illegals have gutted the migrant workforce. They carry the load of this backbreaking work. Each picker hauls 8,000 pounds of apples in a nine-hour day.
Robison said, "it's a lot of work." That's a reason why, despite 9.1 percent unemployment in this state, Americans aren't lining up. "I'm paying $150 a day," Robison said. "Unemployed people who are on unemployment aren't willing to get off of that and come work."
The labor shortage has put the $1.4 billion Washington apple crop at risk.
Orchard growers offer jobs few choose to pick - CBS News
Picking apples: $750 a week..
where are the workers in spite of the Washington state 9.1% unemployment?
"Most of the pickers here are migrant workers. An estimated 66,000 are here illegally. That's about 72 percent of all farm hands statewide.
"In this last year, they deported more and arrested more because they don't have a license," said Alfonso Garcia, who has a green card and who has worked these orchards for 24 years. Garcia says increased border security and crackdowns on illegals have gutted the migrant workforce. They carry the load of this backbreaking work. Each picker hauls 8,000 pounds of apples in a nine-hour day.
Robison said, "it's a lot of work." That's a reason why, despite 9.1 percent unemployment in this state, Americans aren't lining up. "I'm paying $150 a day," Robison said. "Unemployed people who are on unemployment aren't willing to get off of that and come work."
The labor shortage has put the $1.4 billion Washington apple crop at risk.
Orchard growers offer jobs few choose to pick - CBS News