[prewett]

My understanding is that Americans aren't willing to work a lot of lower wage jobs. I think that Mexicans harvest most of the crops in California. A friend of mine in California needed roof repairs and he says that all the American workers were pretty lackadaisical, while the Mexicans worked pretty hard. I believe a lot of hotel staff are immigrants as well, and after the pandemic smaller hotels were simply unable to hire staff. Lawn care is another industry. If anything, I think immigration as regards these areas may be a handout to farmers and homeowners needing manual labor.

H-1Bs are another issue, but since it's capped at something like 50k, I'm not sure how much it's really contributing to lower wages, especially given how software has some of the highest wages in the economy. I don't think the "poorest Americans" are going to be working in tech, though. I've worked with some of the kids in this category, and my conclusion is that poverty is a culture and a mindset. Those without that mindset (frequently children of immigrants) gain the skills necessary to leave.

[CrimsonCape]

I interpret your story as the American workers thinking "wow, I'm not getting paid enough to deal with this s***."

I also interpret your story as the children of immigrants realizing "wow, I'm not going to be paid enough to deal with the s** * my parents deal/dealt with." So they find a way to get a tech job or desk job.

One could just as easily denigrate the children of immigrants as being lackadasical, but that's not necessary. Why denigrate people?

[pacerier]

I'm not sure where the denigration is?

> to work a lot of lower wage

> all the American workers were pretty lackadaisical, while the Mexicans worked pretty hard

Truth

[carom]

>Americans aren't willing to work a lot of lower wage jobs.

Then the wages are not high enough in those jobs. They should either pay more or get automated. Bringing in desperate people who are willing to live and under worse conditions is not an ethically sound solution.

[pacerier]

> ethically

Don't start that pretend. This was never about ethics. Pretending that it's about ethics is instant KO.

(Ethics is measured by how many such desperate people you allow to come in, not how many you yet refuse, subjecting them to even worse alternatives)

[deepfriedchokes]

The jobs wouldn’t be lower wage in the first place if businesses didn’t have immigrants to exploit.

[alephnerd]

Wages are not significantly lower.

For example, Trump's H1B prevailing wages rules are still in place so at most the salary difference is 15-20% (which is basically nil as a hiring manager)

In "lower skilled labor" like manual Construction the average wages tend to be middle of the pack for those states [0]

For white collar jobs, the biggest driver for the slowing hiring market is the fact that companies have shown that they can operate in a global async manner, which means shareholders and board members like my Peers are increasingly pushing for hiring abroad as a way to speed delivery.

[0] - https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472061.htm