>I keep reading these articles about how Americans won’t take jobs picking vegetables on farms in California. Call me cynical, but I am having a hard time believing that any of their facts are true.
Granted, some of the jobs available are in places far from large population centers. This seems like a more logical reason why no one is taking those jobs, not that American’s don’t want to work out in a field. Moving is expensive and even more so if you don’t have any friends or family in the area to help you transition.
It would be nice if some investigative reporter tried to get one of these jobs to see if they really are hiring Americans.
Sorry, but it just seems to me that it’s cheaper for farmers to hire illegals. They can pay less than minimum wage in cash, and there is no worker’s comp insurance or any insurance for that matter. I’m not saying all farmers do this, but if the government entity meant to oversee them is just as effective as those overseeing the banks, well…draw your own conclusions.
>We build and manage multi-family properties that are subsidized by USDA Rural Development section 514/516 funds and HCD Joe Serna funds, both of which restrict the housing availability to farm workers, and I can say that of all the tenants, while American, most are of Hispanic or Southeast Asian descent.
Given that decent employers do exist in the San Joaquin Valley, farm work is seasonal and laborers are fortunate to find 9 full months of work, that's 1,560 hours at $8.00 (minimum wage) which comes to $12,480/year. Imagine that times two income earners living in a full house (two parents, two kids, and an elder) — we're talking $24,960 for a family of five.
People in these jobs aren't chasing population sizes of towns, they want to feed their families (both nuclear and extended).
The article says, "Most Americans simply don't apply for jobs harvesting fruits and vegetables in California". Well, why would _most_ Americans? These _most_ Americans don't live in California. Hahaha… What do we have, like 9% of the US population.
To be fair, I can afford to agree.
–Justin
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