When Americans Will Do Dirty Jobs
Recently, Bloomberg on MSNBC.com published an article that claimed that Americans won't do dirty jobs. The people who write for Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg never cease to amaze me. Let's look at the other half of the story that the writer failed to discuss.
First, anyone will admit that the jobs being discussed by the writer at dirty jobs. However, the writer fails to stress that the wages paid to the illegal workers depressed market wages for years below that which should be paid to compensate a worker for doing a dirty job. Thereby, when the illegal benefit to farmers of illegal immigrant labor is removed to re-establish market wages, then the farmers they have no legal reason to complain.
The first job described in the article is that of getting a knife and standing 10 or more hours a day in a cold, wet room for minimum wage and skimpy benefits. With such horrendous working conditions the people doing this job should be compensated in a manner similar to a garbage man.
Garbage men typically get paid between $30,000 and $80,000 per year, according to an admittedly sloppy way to determine the wages. These figures mean these garbage men who pick up your dirty diapers and whatever other garbage is thrown away make between $14 and $38 per hour, based on a 52 week work week and 40 hours per week.
Clearly this first job as described by the Bloomberg writer requires some level of skill akin to a garbage man and should thereby be compensated as such at the rate of at least $14 per hour. The farmer, Randy Rhodes, has been benefiting from below market-wage workers who just happen to be illegal immigrants from Guatemala.
Therefore, as any student taking a first year economics course would tell Mr. Rhodes and for that matter the writer of the article: Americans Will Do Dirty Jobs when they are compensated according to market wages.
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