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But not a machine to affordably and accurately pick strawberries or citrus, or clean your house and office park. Let’s not pretend that the demand for relativel

But not a machine to affordably and accurately pick strawberries or citrus, or clean your house and office park. Let’s not pretend that the demand for relatively unskilled work isn’t very high, because the work is perceived to be beneath the dignity or price range or natives. It would be nice if we could benefit from the immigrants willing and able to do this hard and unpleasant work, without also castigating them for doing it.

ericdykstra 8y ago
You'll find Americans to do the work if you pay them enough. Why undercut their wage demands with scabs from foreign countries?
- ska 8y ago
  Because when they do that Americans on average won't buy the produce, and opt instead for cheaper imports. You can make such a system work of course but you have to convince or force (e.g. via import duties) Americans to accept paying more for food - quite a bit more.
  - chrisbennet 8y ago
    That seems obvious and makes intuitive sense - but it turns out its wrong. "GIVING THE 3.5 million workers picking produce on American farms a raise to match the $15 an hour many fast food workers are fighting for sounds unaffordable, right? Not really. According to University of California-Davis agricultural labor economist Philip Martin, the likely additional cost to American shoppers of that wage hike would be about $20 a year." https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/03/31/can-we-afford-to-pay-u-s-farmworkers-more/?user.testname=photogallery:3 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/t...
giardini 8y ago
gotocake says: "But not a machine to affordably and accurately pick strawberries or citrus": https://www.bing.com/search?q=strawberry+picking+machine&form=OPRTSD&pc=OPER https://www.bing.com/search?q=strawberry+picking+machine&for... gotocake says: "this hard and unpleasant work": http://whvaustralia.net/fruit-picking-hard/ http://whvaustralia.net/fruit-picking-hard/ Certainly we don't need to castigate anyone. But we don't need more (illegal or legal) unskilled immigrants taking jobs that will soon be supplanted entirely by automation. We need skilled professions: doctors, engineers, nurses and (God forbid) lawyers. We'd be fine (indeed, we'd be better off) w/o _any_ of the 7,000-14,000 migrants headed toward the USA's southern border right now.
- iguy 8y ago
  Right, it's a mistake to think that there are a fixed number of low-skill jobs which need filling. A mistake encouraged by propaganda from those heavily invested in industries set up to employ them. Swiss people clean their own damn homes at a wage which, in India, would justify several servants. This in turn drives a market for Roomba early adopters... but also just for less obvious technology, like houses well-enough sealed against dust.

ericdykstra 8y ago

You'll find Americans to do the work if you pay them enough. Why undercut their wage demands with scabs from foreign countries?

ska 8y ago
Because when they do that Americans on average won't buy the produce, and opt instead for cheaper imports. You can make such a system work of course but you have to convince or force (e.g. via import duties) Americans to accept paying more for food - quite a bit more.
- chrisbennet 8y ago
  That seems obvious and makes intuitive sense - but it turns out its wrong. "GIVING THE 3.5 million workers picking produce on American farms a raise to match the $15 an hour many fast food workers are fighting for sounds unaffordable, right? Not really. According to University of California-Davis agricultural labor economist Philip Martin, the likely additional cost to American shoppers of that wage hike would be about $20 a year." https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/03/31/can-we-afford-to-pay-u-s-farmworkers-more/?user.testname=photogallery:3 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/t...

giardini 8y ago

gotocake says: "But not a machine to affordably and accurately pick strawberries or citrus": https://www.bing.com/search?q=strawberry+picking+machine&form=OPRTSD&pc=OPER https://www.bing.com/search?q=strawberry+picking+machine&for... gotocake says: "this hard and unpleasant work": http://whvaustralia.net/fruit-picking-hard/ http://whvaustralia.net/fruit-picking-hard/ Certainly we don't need to castigate anyone. But we don't need more (illegal or legal) unskilled immigrants taking jobs that will soon be supplanted entirely by automation. We need skilled professions: doctors, engineers, nurses and (God forbid) lawyers. We'd be fine (indeed, we'd be better off) w/o _any_ of the 7,000-14,000 migrants headed toward the USA's southern border right now.

iguy 8y ago
Right, it's a mistake to think that there are a fixed number of low-skill jobs which need filling. A mistake encouraged by propaganda from those heavily invested in industries set up to employ them. Swiss people clean their own damn homes at a wage which, in India, would justify several servants. This in turn drives a market for Roomba early adopters... but also just for less obvious technology, like houses well-enough sealed against dust.