Canada’s Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, recently said, “Despite our high rate of unemployment, 300,000 jobs go unfilled.” This large number of unfilled jobs is shocking, since it seems that most people globally are more concerned about their job security and the fluctuating rate of unemployment than ever before. For instance, many high school students today are being professed, especially from their teachers, to choose a major that will have a high demand of jobs when they graduate from college. Furthermore, most people have priorities when searching for a job and more often than not job security is number one on their list. Certainly job demand and security have always had an importance, but since the financial crisis of 2009 it seems to have a much more significant role. However, after reading Kim Campbell’s quote I was flabbergasted with how many jobs go unfilled. There may be numerous reasons why people do not apply for them, but one common reason is that people simply do not like working certain jobs. Unfortunately, this leads to families needlessly suffering and many companies without a strong workforce.
One type of industry that has had recent difficulty recruiting workers is agriculture. Unarguably, farm labor is one of the most physically demanding jobs; farmers often work on their feet all day in the scorching summer heat while carrying large, heavy buckets of produce. For this reason, American farms are not able to recruit many citizens willingly to work. Therefore, a Human Resource problem arises in that many farms question whether to hire illegal immigrants or not to fix their labor deficiency. If they choose not to hire illegal immigrants, the labor deficiency will remain; thus, there may not be enough workers to c...
... middle of paper ...
..., with the knowledge that I have gained from the class. American citizens may not take agriculture jobs only because of the physical demands it requires of workers, but also because of the low wages and limited benefits offered. These are some of the reasons why the 300,000 jobs go unfilled each year (“Kim Campbell Quotes”). Additionally, with the economy the way it is today, many companies do not have the funds to provide workers with high wages and numerous benefits in hopes of recruiting or retaining them. However, I believe if a company provides employees with a safe and friendly work environment, the workers will be happy and motivated to work hard, which will ultimately result in profitability and future wage increases. Nonetheless, if discrimination continues to occur in this industry, even immigrants (illegal or legal) may be hesitant to accept these jobs.
While the legal citizens are complaining about illegal immigrants taking up jobs in the low wage sector, this is not true. Undocumented immigrants are able to access those jobs because of the immobility of the American citizens working in the low wage sector (Nadadur 1048). On the other hand, the efforts of undocumented immigrants are not only realizable in the low wage sector, but also high wage sector that provides for white-collar jobs. Some of the illegal immigrants that reside in United States are highly qualified professionals and their input is significant in driving the U.S economy to greater heights. Within the population of undocumented immigrants,
As Americans become more health conscious, their consumption of fruits and vegetables is increased at astronomical levels. Since migrant farm workers are responsible for picking the majority of these products, the eating habits of Americans perpetuate the very farm labor market conditions that many people would like to put an end to. Therefore, whether knowingly or not, Americans are exploiting these Migrant workers who are paid less then minimum wage, have no power to bargain with their employers, and have inadequate and unacceptable living accommodations. In New England, the harvest of blueberries and apples are crucial to the economy, and are in abundant supply. Those who pick these fruits travel across the country, and often across international boarders to fill agricultural jobs that U.S. citizens are not willing to take. Both blueberries and apples are extremely difficult crops to harvest, and require extensive manual labor. Migrant workers are willing to fill these physically exhausting positions because of economic hardships, and the lack of jobs in their own countries.
A majority of people believe that graduating from college will result in a well-paying job. Unfortunately, a degree will not secure a job for many graduates. In the U.S., the jobless rate for college graduates in 2012 was 7.7 percent, and has further increased in the past five years(Robinson). With such a large pool of unemployed citizens for employers to choose from, recent graduates are facing fewer opportunities for work due to little or no previous work experience(Robinson). Although many graduates are faced with unemployment, the majority do receive the opportunity to work. Sadly, many must work jobs they do not enjoy for salaries that make it difficult to make ends meet(Debate). Students are faced with mortgage-sized debts upon graduation, making it difficult for them to start businesses, buy cars or houses, or make other investments that would better the
Competing for jobs against native Americans, immigrants are not only using valuable government resources from welfare and other programs, but they are also increasing the rate of unemployment. True, the jobs immigrants are tak...
Out of the 11 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States, 8 million of them are currently working. Employers in America who want inexpensive workers, hire illegal immigrants and pay them under the table. Since the system does not have an efficient way of identifying and penalizing these employers, this has been an ongoing dilemma. As a result, the American economy suffers because illegal immigrants are not paying taxes like the rest of the legal citizens. Americans who are citizens consequently have difficulties finding jobs because employers would rather pay under the table so they can make higher profits. In my perspective, the employers are at fault here if they knowingly hire workers who are not eligible to work here. However, if the employer did not know about an immigrant’s illegal status than the immigrant is at fault for cheating the system. These are just some of the current issues related to illegal immigration t...
With this rapid increase it is seen that in the 1990’s alone, “the number of Mexican immigrant workers in the U.S. grew by 2.9 million, which is a 123% increase in this segment of the labor force. In contrast, the overall number of American workers grew by only 13% in the same time period”(Paral 4). Also in the 1990’s, “8.8% of Mexican immigrants were in agricultural, forestry, fishing, and hunting. Then in the 2000’s there were 15.3% in these same categories In the 2000’s a total of 33.8% of Mexican immigrants were in the agricultural workforce, which is the highest amount of all industries”(Paral 8). These numbers show the job readiness of Mexican immigrants coming into the United States spoken about beforehand which helps connect how Mexican immigrants have contributed vast amount labor in growing the United States agricultural
With a controlled and balanced inflow of people, immigration can be an important asset to the American workforce. With this in mind, it’s arrogant to think that the greatest minds of the world were born with U.S. citizenship, and even more so to believe that the induction of those people into the proper positions would not boost America’s economy. However, the current state of the country
Immigrants and farmers are facing some serious adversity. After World War I, the United States began to put a cap, or put a quota, on how many immigrants could come into the country.
One major contribution to the growth of the agricultural economy was the creation of the Bracero Program (Carlos Marentes and Cynthia P. Marentes, 1999). A historical example is that on August 4, 1942, the U.S. and the Mexican government united to make the Bracero program (Carlos Marentes and Cynthia P. Marentes, 1999). Many had abandoned their home and headed to the U.S to work as Braceros. More than 4 million Mexican farm laborers came to work in the fields (Carlos Marentes and Cynthia P. Marentes, 1999). The Mexican migrant workers have been the foundation for the development of the rich American agricultural industry (Carlos Marentes and Cynthia P. Marentes, 1999). Many farm laborers arrived to the U.S as hard working and extremely skilled. The majority of the workers had a high experience in the field labor, because many came from agricultural regions of México.
Recently, the U.S. government has been cracking down on illegal aliens and employers are in danger of raids and lawsuits for hiring illegal immigrants. Many employers either do not require any documentation or accept copies of documents (Rousmaniere 24-25), regarding legalization. Immigrants are desired employees and companies continue to hire them even with the risks. By working for lower wages, they keep the costs of goods and services down; the illegal alien work force helps improve the U.S. economy (Nadadur 1037-1052). However, illegal immigrants can have a negative effect when they encroach on American job opportunities (Carter 8). Some economists argue that illegal aliens actually help the host-country’s economy by adding to the labor force. However, other economists state that too many illegal...
The lack of enforcement of immigration policies will cause the greatest impact on America’s economy. One of the most controversial topics is how immigrants affect jobs and wages. Many argue that immigrants help the economy by working for the people that will not, but in reality they are taking Americans jobs and legal immigrants that have earned their rights. The main issue is wages: illegal immigrants are desperate for jobs and will do anything. Businessmen will take advantage of this and pay them significantly lower wages. Cheap labor negatively affects other workers. Studies show that immigrants push down wages and may cause other workers to leave a certain industry.
There are a variety of push and pull factors that bring these migrant farmworkers into the fields. Those fields are, to them, overflowing with freedom and gleaming opportunities, welcoming them and their hungry families. To farm owners and large corporations, they are nothing but disposable units of cheap labor who are easily exploited out of their desperation and a lack of say amidst their situation. Millions of Mexican men, women and even children, for example, choose the life-or-death decision of crossing the border every year, risking everything they have and throwing themselves into the unknown: what they do not foresee will be the biggest Hunger Games of their lives. They leave their families behind, trekking across the deserts of Arizona for days at a time without food or water, or swimming through the Rio Grande with the treacherous risk of getting caught by U.S. officials and, more common than most may think, the odds of meeting death along the way (Bauer 2010). These unfortunate fallen remain anonymous as they are reduced to bones in the desert, and their fate
The most detrimental factor of the fallen American Dream is due to the collapsing economy, and as the economy collapses, it drags American opportunity down with it. The Dream has always been closely associated with economic stability, something that seems unobtainable in today’s generation. We emphasize the importance of college education in order to find stable careers, but, “there are no jobs! And the few jobs that are available, don’t pay a living wa...
In the case of the unemployed, the American Psychological Association (APA) has published multiple papers showing that the current economy is very stressful to Americans...
While having the right skills for employment is imperative to obtaining a decent job. Displaying your job skills in America’s competitive job market can be challenging. One stigma can be perceived that long-term jobless people have been sitting around and not really wanting to work. (Daly, Hobijn, and Kwok 2015) Or the perception that they would not take a lower paying job, and if they do, they will leave as soon as they find a higher paying one. Some companies have clearly barred the underemployed or long-term unemployed from certa...