Who did "all the jobs Americans will not do" before the massive amount of illegal immigrants came to the US

Question

Who were our landscapers, construction workers, housekeepers, factory workers?

I am confused...I don't understand how people say that these are jobs Americans won't do. If I rememeber correctly...didn't all of these jobs also pay more as well?

I know that the factory that my husband works at use to pay $15.00 an hour to start...now the whole floor is mainly Hispanics working for $8.00 an hour.

Commo...

My husband and I both have college educations. Why must Americans have a college education to be able to feed their families.

Do you honestly believe that $15 and hour is a lot of money? Maybe to you!

Answer 1

The truth is there are NO jobs Americans wont do it's a myth there are wages that Americans wont or cant afford to work for that is the problem. If the government would extract its head from its collective a** and get serious about cracking down on those company's who under pay that would go a long way towards dispelling that myth. Then of course comes the part that the government fears lowering the taxes which is ultimately what has led to the wage problem in the first place. Until either or both of those things happen the sad truth is that the problem will not go away it will just continue to be ignored and justified by the myth you see the myth that Americans wont do the jobs is just a big excuse I am a Conservative and believe in lower taxes and a firmer stance against the problem of ILLEGAL immigration but the politicians on both sides are too concerned with pandering to get re elected too ever seriously address the real problem we as the citizenry need to keep the pressure on them and perhaps they will some day get the picture.

Answer 2

America always had its poor class. Before the Mexicans, it was mainly Asian immigrants, and before them it was the Irish and anyone else who just go off the boat.

"I am confused...I don't understand how people say that these are jobs Americans won't do. If I rememeber correctly...didn't all of these jobs also pay more as well?"

There is no job that Americans won't do. However there are jobs that Americans won't do for a certain price.

"I know that the factory that my husband works at use to pay $15.00 an hour to start...now the whole floor is mainly Hispanics working for $8.00 an hour."

Right, because that's how capitalism works. You start a factory and you get the best available labor for the cheapest price. That's just how things go. If you had a factory and your primary goal was profit (as that is the primary goal of most business), would you pay someone 15$ or would you pay someone else who'll do the same work for 8$? If you're a smart capitalist/businessperson, you'll take the guy who'll work for $8/hr. You also need to know that as the years went by, the demand for more cheap labor increased. 50 years ago we didn't need as many landscapers, contractors, housekeepers, etc. . .and so people could pay them more. But now that we need more and cheaper in order to satsify the demand, we have hispanics who'll work for $5/hr because that's better than working in Mexico for less than a dollar hour.

To summarize, it's not about Mexicans "stealing" American jobs. It's about Americans not wanting to work for cheap and so the Mexicans take the jobs instead. The big companies know that there are millions of immigrants out there who are willing to work for cheap and so they minimize their own minimum payment (ex: 25 years ago a job that payed $20/hr, now pays $10/hr). They know that there is no need to increase the pay because there are so many immigrants willing to work for a cheap pay.

To answer your question more directly: Americans did those jobs or other immigrants did those jobs. But as the demand for more labor increased, the government opened the boarders up to allow more Mexicans (who work at minimum wage) in and do the dirty work for cheap wage. Illegal immigration has helped American economy alot in the recent years. Imagine all the extra profits that American tax collectors and companies made because they could finally find someone who'd work for almost nothing. Also, there's no real way that we can even try to combat illegal immigration. The government/big business obviously wants them here ('cause of cheap labor) and as much as you disagree with it, your disagreement won't matter because big business/government cares more about the $ mark than your opinion. That's the sad truth. 200 years ago, many people disapproved of slavery and they took it far, they took it to the white house to complain about it. Did anything change? No, nothing changed, at least not without war. Why didn't it change? Again, because the government cares more about money than what's considered morally right.

"My husband and I both have college educations. Why must Americans have a college education to be able to feed their families."

Again, that's capitalism. Big business doesn't care about Americans feeding their families while doing manual labor. The biggest concern of big business is profit. And paying an American citizen $30/hr isn't gonna bring in as much profit as paying a Mexican $5/hr. Your beef shouldn't be with *illegal* Mexicans. It should be with big business and the government that gives these Mexicans their jobs at minimum wage.

"Do you honestly believe that $15 and hour is a lot of money? Maybe to you!"

$15 dollars an hour is nothing, especially if you have a family. Now days, in order to make ends meet, you need at least $25/hr per every person in the household.

Don't blame Mexicans for what's taking place. Blame the people who are giving them jobs. The Mexicans aren't doing anything wrong because the attitude that the government/big business is "come on over and work, we'll give you a job and everything". That's why you need to put the blame on the government instead.

Answer 3

Oh don't you know it's the little elves that did those jobs.

We all know Americans did those jobs and in parts of the country where there is not hardly any illegals Americans are still doing those jobs. For someone to say Americans won't do these jobs, is just some crock, just a way to make us feel like we actually need the illegals. But I don't buy it, just a myth used to push the agenda. Factory work and construction used to pay good wages, they were what was considered "blue collar" jobs, the type of job Americans could work without a college degree and make good money. Not anymore tho, it is a shame.

Answer 4

News report a few weeks ago about how after a raid to get rid of the illegals, there were Americans waiting in long lines to apply for the opened positions. Why hire an American who expects a decent wage and safe working conditions when you can get someone to do it for a lot less money and not have to invest in safety and benefits or follow the law? That is why companies close down here and take the factories to Mexico and China.

Answer 5

Legal Americans did and still do those jobs everyday.
A core element of the American creed has always been a belief in the dignity of labor at least until now. Supporters of a guest-worker program for Mexican laborers/and illrgal aliens, say that "there are jobs that no Americans will do." This is an argument that is a step away from suggesting that there are jobs that Americans shouldn't do.

President Bush, a strong supporter of the guest-worker program, has long said that "family values don't stop at the Rio Grande." We are supposed to believe, however, that the work ethic does stop there it is only south of it that people can be found who are willing to work in construction, landscaping and agricultural jobs. So, without importing those people into our labor market, these jobs would go unfilled, disrupting the economy (and creating an epidemic of unkempt lawns in Southern California).

This is sheer nonsense. According to a new survey, illegals make up 24 percent of workers in agriculture, 17 percent in cleaning, 14 percent in construction, and 12 percent in food production.
So 86 percent of construction workers, for instance, are either legal immigrants or Americans, despite the fact that this is one of the alleged categories of untouchable jobs.

Answer 6

The Irish, the Polish, the Germans, the Italians, the French, the Filipinos, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Portuguese, the native born Anglo-Celtic Americans, and other legal immigrants helped built this country not the illegal immigrant Mexican Indios (and they are Mexican Indians not real “Hispanic” or “Latino”). If the Mexican Indios built all these things, then why is their country still a corrupt s-hole? As for these make believe stories that some Mexican American groups say the Southwest belongs to Mexico. Wrong! It belonged to my Southwest Native American Indian friends (the Hopi Nation, the Navajo Nation, the Camanche, the Apache Indians) are the people who are indigenous of those lands land not the Mexican Indios (of Aztec and Mayan ancestry ) that are coming here illegally. As for these companies that hire illegals, the owners need to go to jail also so we can discourage illegal immigration.

Answer 7

Yeah, this is one of the biggest lies in the whole immigration issue. The illegals have depressed the labor market until they have some of these jobs ONLY because they will do them for half the wage that the employer used to pay. I'd go out and landscape for what I make right now but I'm not going to do it for minimum wage. Here's when the employers need to be cracked down on. You know they aren't charging less for their services or products - they're just reaping the rewards of a greater profit margin.

Answer 8

Let me think for a minute about that. Lets see, before we had all of these stupid idiots from south of the border invading our country, I think Americans did those jobs that people say Americans won't do. Yes, I think that is correct. All I saw when they did their "day without illegals" day is job openings. I wonder what would happen if us Americans did a day without Americans, maybe then the government would listen to us instead of them finally. When they are all deported, Americans will once again do their jobs. There are so many on welfare and unemployment, and homeless that need jobs, that will give them plenty of options.

Answer 9

People who were here legally did those jobs for minimum wage. Today immigrants still do those jobs and are willing to do so at such a low wage that "Americans" are not willing to work for.

Also a large percentage of these current immigrants are here illegally and so they are taken advantage of thru fear of being turned in to authorities and deported. So they can't complain and accept the low wages they get.

Answer 10

I work in HR. and our landscapers make 15 dollars an hour. Alot of them are illegal and live like 10 people per apartment. These people are just stackin up the cash. Dont let them give you that BS about struggling. I get their copies of their social security cards and its obvious that some are fake but theres nothing I can do, we're not suppose to play private investigator since their background checks came in clear. If I was in charge of HR, I'd report all of them.