no third solution » Economic Fallacies, Michigan, Seen and Unseen » Jobs Americans Won’t Do
Jobs Americans Won’t Do
Go ahead and add picking asparagus to the list.
For some, it’s the fourth straight season of labor shortages and, growers say, a crisis for the state’s second largest industry (auto manufacturing is the largest)….As the first crop that needs picking, asparagus is a bellwether. If labor is lacking, it likely will be short for every other crop through October. Too few pickers will mean farmers must transfer workers who would otherwise be planting and fertilizing, or let the harvest rot.
These jobs pay $10-14 an hour – which is more money than I ever made until I graduated college. But, it’s an awful job: long and uncertain hours. Teenagers don’t want the jobs, people on UI won’t take them because UI generally pays almost that much, for doing nothing at all. So who does the jobs that nobody wants?
Nobody. The farmers are forced to plow under the crops. Don’t complain about the poor or the unemployed, when jobs are left on the table, and don’t bring up the needy or the hungry, when government policy forces people to destroy food. And if you have a single shred of human decency, and you’re honestly concerned about the plight of those worse-off, you’d show some compassion for the people who live on two cups of dirt a day, tilling soil with grandpa’s femur – when they want to come here and provide you with affordable food.
Written by David Z
A lifelong Michigan resident, David holds a Bachelor's Degree from Central Michigan University and a Master of Arts Degree in Economics from Walsh College of Business & Accounting. Among other things, he is a market researcher, an avid snowboarder, beer-snob, former collegiate rugby player, bacon enthusiast and dog lover.
Filed under: Economic Fallacies, Michigan, Seen and Unseen
I realize the situation is very complex, far more so than I even know, perhaps. My casual observations, which are those of a middle-class / middle-aged white male in the mid-west, is that the influx of people from south of the border is because they *want to work*. I know it’s terribly simplistic, but isn’t that a good thing? They want to come here and want to work. To me, it’s all good.
[...] rather actively on a Detroit Free Press discussion forum for the article which inspired my post, “Jobs Americans Won’t Do”. Now, I try to stay away from public forums like this, because they are usually populated by [...]