Jobs people some won't take.

There is a labor contractor in Bakersfield, CA you can go there and get a job working in the fields. You get more than minimum wage and Kaiser health insurance and disability insurance.

There is an IKEA warehouse off of I-5, 20 miles south of Bakersfield, CA where you can get a job driving a fork lift that pays $11/hr with health insurance, vacation and other benefits. They also have other jobs that pay $8/hr. They can't get enough people to fill all shifts.


I know for a fact that there are openings at both places. Immigrants with documents get hired. Others never even bother to apply but would get hired if they did. No one is stealing these jobs. The wages are low but so are the skill requirements. The wages are not being depressed because of who has the jobs.

That aside, your point is very valid.

Of course, how many people get turned down because they're "overqualified"?

:tinfoilhat: time. Funny how intelligent people with degrees can't even get simple jobs... but then, looking at our media industry (tv, gaming, et al) it seems somebody wants to dumb us down - and it's not us... especially if you are in a job where you're told to document technical issues in ways non-technical people can understand. (Best of luck for the future, then...)

My b/f is having a hell of a time finding a job for just that reason. I'm beginning to think he needs to write a cover letter for his resume that explains the country's economic situation.

They just assume, probably correctly, that you'll be gone the instant a job you ARE qualified for turns up. I had the same thing happen a few years ago, and it's really, really frustrating. But they were right; I was not planning to stay long and fortunately found my present job just as funds ran out completely.

California, and I don't care how you spin it. That is why those jobs are going unfilled.

Check out what apartments are renting for, check how far someone would have to live from that warehouse, factor in the cost of owning a car, factor in what food costs these days.

I'm sure you'll come up with the same conclusion I did. Those jobs won't support people here in Central NM in safe housing. I can't imagine expecting anyone to accept that little pay in California.

Those might have been decent wages a decade ago. They are shit wages now.

I am saying that immigrants are coming here to get those jobs. The reason IKEA chose to put it's warehouse where it is, is because there was a pool of unskilled workers that would work for what they wanted to pay. If the workers were not there, the warehouse would not be there.

It is not a case of illegal immigrants taking jobs away from others or forcing down wages. It is the economic reality of two countries, Mexico and Sweden taking advantage of each other.

My point is that most of the reasons people use for being against illegal immigration are not founded in fact and it is my opinion that it is the fear of the cultural changes that make people feel the way they do. They use anecdotal information that is repeated and repeated so often it is taken for the truth when it really isn't the truth at all.

on the other side of the range in Bakersfield. Most office jobs here go for $7 an hour. You are lucky to make minimum wage working retaillike K-Mart or WalMart. Since this is a tourist area most of the jobs are service jobs in hotels, restaurants and store. They are low paying for everyone, which is why we seem to have a lot of working homeless in this area.

The unions are trying to organize the service workers in the hotels and restaurants but it's an uphill climb with Republicans in power and laws that don't do much to protect the workers.

wages, and typical wages that won't support a full time worker are NOT GOOD.

A wrong choice of words on my part.

exist in the area?

Someone desperate for a job might be willing to crowd into a house or an apartment so the people together would have enough for the rent.

They also live in unsafe housing like camper shells propped up on cinder blocks. That's what marginal workers are doing here in NM, and I imagine you'll see the same elsewhere in campgrounds.

What this country is doing to its people is cruel and unconscionable and its people had better catch a clue soon.

That wage was a SHIT wage. Nobody can live on it.

and that's why people aren't lining up to take them. Nobody wants to move to Bakersfield (it's a shit-hole, hope i'm not offending anyone) for $11/hr. If they offered $20/hr, i'm sure they would have zero openings.

It's good that they're not depressing their wages for documented immigrants however, but what do they do about them illegal ones?

People won't take the jobs because they don't pay enough. The solution for companies to fill these positions is to raise the wages. Staying competitive while doing this might require dipping into the CEOs $200,000,000 year salary, so the CEO cheats by gettin illegal immigrants.

reason why. I know, about 10 years ago, when I was Dir. of Acctg. in Texas, my boss told me he couldn't hire a file clerk in Ca. for less than $14/hr! He was astonished that lots of employees were applying for entry level jobs when we were offering only $9/hr.

I can tell you it's NOT the JOB that nobody will do!!!! I drove a forklift when I was in school, and I wasn't making any where close to "good money"!

The fact that immigrants will take jobs for lower wages than many other workers is just proof that they are driving wages DOWN!

When you get to the rural and small cities and towns in CA they pay pretty poorly, but it's still expensive to rent and get health care. This is something you never see in the Hwy. flicks about Malibu and Rodeo Drive. A lot of people don't realize the most of California is agricultural or rural and forested, or desert.

groceries and pay for gas? Hearing what I have about CA real estate, I don't think it could be done. And, if you have others to support? $8@40hr work week=$320/per week... not very much at all to live on.

many of the young people work several jobs. I see them in one store and then go to a restaurant and see them working there so I know that's what they are doing. Many of the working class here are homeless too. The wages in Bakersfield seem to be better than here in San Luis Obispo County.

That's not my point. My point is that no one stole those jobs and no one forced wages down. The jobs are there because the immigrants are there and willing to work for those wages. If there were no immigrants willing to work for those wages there would be no labor contractor and no IKEA.

My point is that most of what is said about illegal immigrants is unfounded.

They didn't steal jobs, they didn't force down wages, they pay taxes for services, they contribute to society the same as anyone else. Their kids are American citizens who learn English and assimilate into American society. My point is that illegal immigration is not the threat we think it is.

5 to 10 of them can live together - Saw this in Virginia - they have low housing cost and they get paid above minimum wage
whereas the rest of us might get paid that but then have to go rent something for 1000/mth

There is a lot more to all this than what the republicans feed the media

I saw this in looking for jobs - some major company would say they had a hard time filling jobs - be in the newspaper - I had applied to jobs at that company - college degree - I write the company and say - how can you say that in the newspaper - they send a letter turning me down for a job I never applied to.

It is BS and sheeple believe this because it is repeated and repeated and repeate
notice * never really talks like any one else - he only says something over and over and over -

shit thrown at me again but in re jobs in the fields, you HAVE to speak Spanish in order to be able to get those jobs. How do I know? I live in Fresno (120 miles north) and my out-of-work-husband with 2 college degrees and desperate for a job was told exactly that -- you have to speak Spanish. So it's not that people are not willing to do those jobs, it's that they're locked out, which is true of at least 50% of the jobs here.

Flame away (yawn).

back up your claim? I worked in California all my life and no one said I had to speak Spanish although I often went for jobs that required Spanish because I do speak it like in doctors' offices where they usually needed one person who could act as an interpreter. But most of my co-workers didn't speak Spanish at all so I can't say it was 50%, more like 10%

about what they think and feel toward the illegal immigrants. I truly believe they are more of a benefit to us than a threat to us. If we all joined together to fight the corporatist we could make a better way of life for us all. I think we should welcome them as new Democrats with the ability to march and fight for social justice the same as all of us should. Our slice of economic pie is getting smaller all the time and we are fighting among each other rather than fighting together.

These people came hear illegally and broke our laws, no doubt about it, but they are our allies as working class people not our enemies. They fight for social justice, living wages, union membership. These are fights we should join them in. It is not them or us, it us just us.

If they get filled by an actual American citizen, fine; if not, they can sit there. :shrug:

The businesses who won't be able to function because they don't have enough employees might go out of business and the rest of the jobs will be gone too. Hello unemployment. This is really a good way to become a Banana Republic even if our government weren't selling us down the drain.