Goldenboy219

As well as, and partially limited to, attempting to encourage competition at every instance. First and fore most, ask any government employee if they would be willing to move from the public to private sector, and the answer would most likely pertain to "doubling" ones salary. I say partially because there are certainly aspects to be expected of, in regards to ensuring competition and protection of privilidges, eh, i mean RIGHTS!!!!

__________________
Be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the present. For in the present is where we shape our future.

John1234

From what i have seen the Mexican laborers work real hard but put out extremely low quality work.
I do not know if that would or even could apply to things like killing chickens or picking fruit.
But most of the ones in construction are unskilled labor attempting to do skilled jobs with very little supervision or training.

Government jobs do not overpay. They simply pay a proper amount with a proper amount of benefits.
But i still agree that there are "too many" of these jobs.
Especially since we contract most things out now.

I got really pissed and almost took my county to court once.
I was asked to bid on painting a city owned fire station.
I was verbally told I have the contract.
Then i was told that the city outbid me.
(The maintenance department bid on behalf of the county and the city awarded the county the contract)

aegyptos

This observation does not match what my eyes tell me in this area. Mexicans have replaced natives in nearly every skilled construction job that doesn't require a license. Its very hard to find a native born concrete, masonry, roofing, landscape or carpentry contractor in Oklahoma these days. And why would you want to? The Mexicans do the work much faster with similar quality for less money. I have also noticed that skilled workers requiring a license such as electrian, surveyer and plumbers are invariably accompanied by a Mexican laborer who is his apprentice. Soon these trades will pass over to them as well.

Goldenboy219

I dont see that as a bad thing though.

__________________
Be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the present. For in the present is where we shape our future.

aegyptos

I don't either, necessarily. I just want them to be legal immigrants paying taxes and social security and having the protection of the law from predatory employers.

John1234

Well lets see...
Most are illegals.
They put a lot of people out of work in low class jobs.
But construction has a lot of middle class jobs.
We've been hearing about middle class jobs disappearing.
As the unskilled illegals start taking over middle class contracting jobs due to undercutting prices by as much as 1/5th, middle class jobs shrink even further.
And they manage to take an entire job market and remove it from the middle class.

The comparison in quality is also tremendous in these areas.
And what is worse than lowering the quality of services is that there is often no recourse.
The illegals and even many of the legals that are mascarading as contractors often disappear, making any warranty quite pointless.

aegyptos

Here in Oklahoma, in sectors where they have squeezed out nearly all of the native workers, concrete for instance, they are beginning to charge nearly equal prices to what the Americans were charging. Flat work for instance is going at about $7 sq foot. This is what the Americans charged several years ago when you could still find one. The difference is the Mexicans are twice as fast because they work so much harder and more cooperatively.

Goldenboy219

All of my full time industrial painting buddies say the same thing, "you better work hard, or a Mexican will take your job." Haha, one of 'em is half Mexican

__________________
Be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the present. For in the present is where we shape our future.

John1234

I wont elaborate "too much" because it is not my intent to hijack this thread.

But here we had never seen a illegal Mexican before.
After hurricane Ivan, aprox 10,000 of them came at once.

At the time, new construction interior prices for a custom home for the entire region averaged at $2.00 per square foot.
But in our area we had a construction boom plus its a rich area so contractors were in high demand.
The average price before the Mexican invasion for us was $3.00 per square foot.

The hurricane should have driven prices up for everyone.
But due to the huge influx of Mexican workers, the average price was driven all the way down from $3.00 to $1.40.

Once the town was rebuilt and the recession hit, the Mexicans left.
There is not one single illegal in this town at present.
Yet the average price still remains at $1.40 while contractors struggle to find work.
Even 1 year after the last of the Mexicans left, our area remains devastated by them as the lowest paying area in the region.
Before their arrival we were the highest.

aegyptos

If the surplus labor has left the region but the amount of work remains as high as before the market clearing price for labor should rise. Is the amount of work the same as before or is home construction in the Florida market depressed? If contractors are struggling to find work then its likely that there is still too much labor is chasing not enough work and that is the reason why rates are still depressed even with the Mexican labor gone.