2 ms·

We need to develop an immigration system like most other advanced economies where you allow guest workers and seasonal workers to come serve an economy and feel

by mc32 4y ago

We need to develop an immigration system like most other advanced economies where you allow guest workers and seasonal workers to come serve an economy and feel free to go back on the off-season (whereas now, that risks not getting back in) to enjoy lower COL and family. Also, skilled immigrants add a lot to the economy, unskilled don't add as much, never the less we do need reform and normalize the system. I think business fears they would have to pay a normal wage to these workers, so they are against such a system. However, that is only fair to the immigrant workers as well as native workers who are no longer undersold.

PaulHoule 4y ago
Agriculture is a particular part of the problem. If you need help at a dairy farm, for instance. you need someone who is almost 100% reliable to look after the cows and what you find is that the "low skill" people in the area would rather work at the gas station or Burger King than do the much harder farm work that often pays a little more (not much more) than the service jobs. On the other hand you get someone from Mexico who is experienced in farm work and takes it very seriously because he is saving up to start his own farm. A farm owner can easily see eye-to-eye with a person like that. There is a horse barn down the road that has struggled economically for 4/5 of the time it has been there because it has been run by angry old people, heroin dealers, and other jerks until it has recently been run by the wife of an army officer who had great success. One owner was notorious for treating the help and the customers really poorly, hiring illegals and also turned the place into the HQ of the local Republican party for one election.
- mc32 4y ago
  On a tangent, we could have programs to "modernize" some small scale operations such as the above. Many smallholders don't have the money or bandwidth to do some basic upgrades --even essential things like cash-flow or inventory control, instead they allow momentum to keep them doing things they same way they always did things which may not fit in today's economy very well. I've been to stores that still issue written receipts and keep manual inventory --like in a ruled notebook and it's not like they don't have cell reception or don't have a phone or tablet. There are likely a million islands in the Pacific.
eptcyka 4y ago
Most studies show that regardless of education, an influx of migrants help develop the economy. Of course, lower skilled migrants do so to a lesser degree, but the impact is exceedingly positive regardless of the level of skill.
- mc32 4y ago
  I think that depends on how they get binned. You can have a group that overrepresents itself in how much it adds, while there are groups that detract. Usually people tend not to show those breakdowns and just show raw numbers because jointly they look positive. However, the number may look particularly positive for some groups and particularly negative for others.

by mc32 4y ago

PaulHoule 4y ago

Agriculture is a particular part of the problem. If you need help at a dairy farm, for instance. you need someone who is almost 100% reliable to look after the cows and what you find is that the "low skill" people in the area would rather work at the gas station or Burger King than do the much harder farm work that often pays a little more (not much more) than the service jobs. On the other hand you get someone from Mexico who is experienced in farm work and takes it very seriously because he is saving up to start his own farm. A farm owner can easily see eye-to-eye with a person like that. There is a horse barn down the road that has struggled economically for 4/5 of the time it has been there because it has been run by angry old people, heroin dealers, and other jerks until it has recently been run by the wife of an army officer who had great success. One owner was notorious for treating the help and the customers really poorly, hiring illegals and also turned the place into the HQ of the local Republican party for one election.

mc32 4y ago
On a tangent, we could have programs to "modernize" some small scale operations such as the above. Many smallholders don't have the money or bandwidth to do some basic upgrades --even essential things like cash-flow or inventory control, instead they allow momentum to keep them doing things they same way they always did things which may not fit in today's economy very well. I've been to stores that still issue written receipts and keep manual inventory --like in a ruled notebook and it's not like they don't have cell reception or don't have a phone or tablet. There are likely a million islands in the Pacific.

eptcyka 4y ago

Most studies show that regardless of education, an influx of migrants help develop the economy. Of course, lower skilled migrants do so to a lesser degree, but the impact is exceedingly positive regardless of the level of skill.

mc32 4y ago
I think that depends on how they get binned. You can have a group that overrepresents itself in how much it adds, while there are groups that detract. Usually people tend not to show those breakdowns and just show raw numbers because jointly they look positive. However, the number may look particularly positive for some groups and particularly negative for others.