N.Y. Times Story: Illegal Immigrants Taking 20% of Construction Jobs

The New York Times ran a story in the April 17, 2007 edition in the Business section about how the housing slowdown in America is impacting illegal immigrants in America. the interesting statistic in this story is that illegal immigrants are taking up to 20% of all construction jobs, including jobs that pay $25.00 to $35.00 an hour. This is a far cry from how Bush and other Republicans portray illegal immigrants. The refrain from the Republicans and Bush is that illegal immigrants are taking jobs that no one else will do such as farm labor. As this story makes clear, however, illegal immigrants are taking jobs that Americans would do if they knew about the jobs or had an opportunity to apply for them.

The reason why employers hire illegal immigrants is that it is cheaper to hire them. They won't apply for benefits like unemployment insurance or workers' compensation. They don't complain about being subjected to unlawful working conditions. Because they are often paid "off the books" their compensation doesn't show up for tax purposes. This means that employers don't have to pay for Social Security or Medicare benefits. For the employer, they are a great deal. For the rest of America, however, employing illegal immigrants isn't such a great deal. In fact, its a lousy deal. ________________________________________________________________
Click on the link in the title to read the New York Times article.

Gov. Strickland Reviews Minimum Wage Exclusion

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on its website Sunday that Gov. Ted Strickland is reviewing legislation passed by the GOP-controlled General Assembly in the last days of the late, unlamented Taft Administration, that exempts certain occupations from Ohio's new minimum wage amendment. (You can link to the article by clicking on the arrow next to this entry's title.)

The irony is that if a business doesn't pay the minimum wage and relies on the bill passed by the General Assembly, it could end up paying the attorney fees of an employee suing to enfore the provisions of the amendment. The sponsors of the minimum wage amendment were smart enough to insert that provision into the amendment's language. It would have been smarter, and even easier, to have just adopted the language of the amendment and not tried to exempt certain industries from paying the new minimum wage, but that would not have helped the GOP's business allies. Because, in the end, it all comes down to following the money.

Columbus Dispatch Reports 2006 Manufacturing Job Losses

The Columbus Reported that 2006 tied 2003 for record number of job losses in Ohio's manufacturing sector. Ohio has now lost over 200,000 manufacturing jobs. It's percentage of people employed in manufacturing has gone from 17% of the work force down to 14%. A big reason is competition from overseas companies. This state is seeing the loss of good paying jobs.

The media likes to report on unemployment figures. Unemployment figures, though, are only the tip of the analysis. If you are replacing manufacturing jobs with service industry jobs and if such jobs don't pay as much, then consumers have less money to spend. Consumers spending less will eventually result in fewer jobs in the service sector. It means consumers having less money to spend on doctors, lawyers, insurance, dentists, and other professions who think their education will protect them from the effects of Ohio losing manufacturing jobs.