Does anyone know approximately what illegal immigrants are actually paid?

Question

Any details about the work would also be appreciated. I'm hoping to hear from at least some people who actually know this information. No hate messages on either side of the issue, please.

Answers are interesting so far. I had thought that most illegal immigrants made under minimum wage, as I heard that in the Midwest, they do, but it seems that at least in California, in the construction industry, this is not the case. Some of you mentioned other industries and lower wages. I'll leave this up a while and see if anybody else chimes in. Thanks to all for your input. It's very informative.

Answer 1

the undocumented immigrants that i know make around 7-12 dollars an hour. a lot of them work in construction and food service.
i am i know some very well and i know they get paychecks and taxes are taken out. some who work construction can get paid under the table but the ones in restaraunts and factories don't. you see if the majority of your crew is getting paid under the table, you run a big risk of getting audited, so, of course, they have to pay their employees over the table.
it doesn't seem that the people i know have dealt with issues such as being paid less than minimum wage or not getting paid for hours worked like a lot of people say, but i have heard about it happening to people i don't know.
a lot of the time the employers are aware of their employees' legal status as often the majority of their crew may be undocumented and they recieve letters stating the their social security numbers are incorrect. these social security numbers are often actually legit tax id numbers or made up numbers. i don't know anyone who has stolen a ssn and don't know if that happens a lot.

Answer 2

Construction, fast food, agriculture, hospitality industries are all major employers of undocumented aliens. Hospitality includes laundry, dry cleaning, maid services at hotels/motels, etc.
Most of these industries pay from minimum wage to $8.00 per hour.
The exception is construction. Many Mexicans have been joining construction unions over the past 20 years and are making $10.00 to $25.00 per hour. I know a construction supervisor who was let go because he couldn't speak spanish. For those who argue that illegals only take the low paying jobs that Americans don't want, the American construction workers who are out of work would disagree with that.
The avg. American worker earns $12.00 per hour.
Most illegals do not work for cash under the table. They use fake I.D.s to get on company payrolls and have taxes withheld like everyone else. The difference is, they'll claim 6 dependents to get most of their tax refunded. By the time the IRS catches on (about 3-4 years), the worker has moved on and changes their identity again.

Answer 3

They get paid according to the job they are doing, except that since they are illegal they get paid under that table. Unfortunately, this also means that they don't pay taxes for any of the services they use, like roads, schools, welfare, etc. They also receive FULL AND COMPLETELY FREE MEDICAL CARE. If a white or black person has a bad heart valve and no money, that person can just go home and die quietly. But if an illegal alienhas a bad heart valve and no money, they get the very best of care, because the doctor or hospital would be GUILTY OF A FELONY for refusing treatment or giving substandard treatment.

Answer 4

In my area no one - not even illegals - gets as little minimum wage. I remember a contractor mentioning that illegals only got about half what legitimate construction workers were paid - but that's still pretty decent money.

Answer 5

Well, to tell you the truth, I know of someone who's now a legal resident of the US.

The thing is, when he was an illegal, was forced to work over 14 hours a day, with the "minimum" wage of $4.65 an hour. CA

Answer 6

even if they are getting paid 5 bucks an hour and working 60 hrs a week (300 bucks), if they have a family of four they would get medicaid (free medical) and food stamps (around 250) they would end up bringing home way more money per month than a regular citizen who is making 10 bucks an hour.

Example: 10 x 40 = 400
-27% taxes (108) = 292
health insurance costs = 70 = 222 bucks
ss, medicare, etc. =23

LEAVES 199.00 to the legal citizen
VS. 300.00 the illegal citizen

SO who works harder for their money??

Answer 7

I have been out West and have asked people this question, some have told me that the ones working the fields going from one state to another when the job is done are making between 15 to 20 dollars an hour. I would guess it depends on how much they pick in one hour

Answer 8

more than you and me put together and they deserve it because while you and i are sitting our complaining *** on this site they are busting it at work so who cares if you want to make more money get a second job and work hard i can say that here in the USA the hardest workers after illegals are some American girls. not the gringos they just go to work because they don t have a new video game to play nor money to buy it. "five fingers man"

Answer 9

From what I can gather, the preferred jobs are construction work. I suppose there are those tired of domestics and service related jobs, but so are we, since the manufacturing ones went to Mexico and China (okay, not only those two countries but you get my drift).

Answer 10

It depends on the type of work/skills and also if they bring their equipment and length of the job.

Here, in SoCal, for unskilled construction labor is about $7-12/hr, skilled goes to $15/hr and higher.

Here, barring some special circumstances, nobody legal would work for those wages.