Democrats, how do you expect Biden to raise minimum wage while bringing in more immigrants?

Many of these employers are lying or being misleading about their claims of not being able to find enough quality Americans workers.

We have had many threads about this in the past, but here's just one of them:
U.S. tech giants hiring more foreign workers on H-1B visas (see post #5)

 

That's a disingenuous statement. The US put the breaks on immigration after the Great Depression until up to 1967.
Just coincidentally, that is usually regarded as having been the most prosperous period in history for the American worker.

 

The US has lots of policies for Americans. The US cannot and should not be ruled without considering both domestic and foreign interests.

Automation has been in place since Henry Ford! Many automated processes cannot be done by people. If you're a business owner and care about costs and quality, automation must remain an option.

No one, unless you can name them, is interested in driving down wages! A business does not care how much labor costs as long as they can remain competitive and consumers will sustain demand. Another thing required by business is to have qualified labor and when the US cannot produce this labor, business has no choice but to outsource.

You and others just don't get it?? I can't imagine any business owner who desires to use immigrant labor over domestic labor or to outsource mfg. processes outside the US...but most have no choice! Sure they can close the doors or move off-shore or use mostly imported materials and labor, to remain viable...but all of this is a logistical and cultural nightmare! But if their business is not viable under current conditions in the US, of things like labor, costs, quality, etc. what's the solution?

Americans have a prime role in all of this!

 

Fact is the US is not providing enough educated and high performing labor. Unless you want all the businesses to close shop and move offshore you must allow green card workers...

 

If you can't imagine the US without immigrants than how can you be in this discussion? Better yet for you, try to imagine what would happen if tomorrow you force all green card holders to leave the US...do you actually believe every company will find equally qualified American workers in all the areas in which they are needed?

Ref; According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 88% of Americans had at least a high school diploma or GED in 2015. Thirty-three percent had a bachelor's or more, and 12% had an advanced degree such as a master's or professional degree, or a doctorate. This is simply not good enough to service corporate America. It's so obvious...if the US developed higher quality workers there would be NO green card workers! If Americans would do the work of undocumented workers we would have no illegals in the USA! H1B workers must earn a minimum of $60K and government is trying to raise this to $120K so it's not about cheaper labor. A business without qualified labor will fail...

 

What's the solution? What's the problem? We have unemployment right now so it's not like we don't have a large idle domestic workforce ready to go. I could understand an argument for a specific skilled labor field, and we were trying to correct that specific issue, but you're simply arguing for more people, whether skilled or not, and whether needed or not. You just are not making a coherent argument.

 

This is all nonsense! All business wants is qualified labor so when the US does not develop enough qualified labor, business looks elsewhere. It makes no difference if we're talking about janitors or judges! The US must have enough qualified labor, at all levels and all skills, to sustain the business. Logic dictates when there is a shortage of labor the business is no longer viable. The business can outsource, or automate, etc. but qualified labor remains a necessity...

 

So...your argument isn't about skilled work, it's about bodies. We need more bodies, even with unemployment. Sorry, but you are not even trying.

 

Uh... he takes a pen and signs the bill? Wha?

 

They might as well move offshore, since it is not Americans doing these jobs.

 

The problem (and I've elaborated on this before) is US businesses are trying to sell things to other parts of the world - places where prices and wages are lower. But to do this, these same businesses also need to use workers from other parts of the world - workers who will work for less, so the business can keep prices down and remain competitive.

It's much harder to hire an American to make something at the going cost of American wages, and then be able to sell that thing in India or China.
So these businesses claim they need workers from India or China, if they are to be able to compete in the global market.

 

Most plantation owners probably also had no choice. I'm sure many tried actually paying their workers, but they just weren't able to compete with the other plantations which employed slave labor.

 

Not interested in your 'evaluation' of me??

The discussion is about labor...period!

You always have unemployed people located throughout the nation...even in the best of times. Some events can exacerbate this. Americans are either too lazy to work, or do not possess the education, or the skills, and don't live or refuse to commute to the high employment centers, etc. etc. etc.! If you can figure out how to motivate all of the unemployed people to get a job then you have answers no one else has. Apple Inc. cannot scrounge nearby neighborhoods and force unemployed people to take a job. The unemployed people MUST take ALL of the actions to find and secure employment. Meanwhile, there are foreigners who posses the qualifications and are begging to come to the US to work...should business simply ignore foreign labor?

 

Business does not care if workers are American or not? Business simply wants a sustainable labor force with room to grow as necessary. Since the US is a major consumer many companies will remain in the US for obvious reasons...and work around labor issues using H1B visas or outsourcing, etc. Many US businesses have factories in major foreign consumer populations again for obvious reasons. Face a fact; the US is failing to educate our kids to compete in 21st century businesses...

 

This is nonsense...there are wage laws in the US. However, when China or India or ?? become large consumers for many products it makes sense to build them at those locations instead of in the USA. Why is GM located outside of the US or Toyota located inside the US? Do you actually think Toyota is in the US for cheap labor?

Yes, it's a global economy and as long as this remains products, and labor and facilities will be developed anywhere in the world that makes sense...

 

Many slaves earned a wage, while most did not, but those were different times. I think the idea of African slaves was more about work performance; they were stronger and more energetic than Europeans. It's a bit analogous to today in which Latino workers do work in food production/hospitality, etc. that Americans simply won't do.

 

If there are legitimate labor shortages in particular fields, that's one issue. You just seem to want to bring in as many people as possible willy nilly. That's not policy, that's chaos.

 

And you just make up crap? I never said 'bring in as many people as possible willy nilly'??? Your position is such idiocy! It is a FACT that if business cannot acquire the necessary labor they will seek options like automation, outsourcing, hiring immigrants, relocating facilities, etc.

 

This isn't about labor shortages, this is about labor shortages at a certain wage. If you think I'm making crap up, why don't you tell me what policy you suggest?

 

Who cares what wage? If you can solve the problem why so many people remain unemployed then please share. Immigrant labor comes in all sizes from unskilled to highly skilled. Labor shortages are defined by 'local' needs...not by national status. If labor is not available then business will request immigrant labor...it's this simple...

 

"Who cares what wage?"

You see, that's really what this is about. We're a continental sized country with a population of 330 million. We don't have a shortage of labor, either skilled or unskilled. Employers can simply raise their wages to attract work but, not surprisingly, they don't want to. They want a continual flow of coolie labor coming into the country that's never ending, that will accept the low wages employers want to pay.

 

A tiny, overblown problem compared to the fact that most americans who need government assistance have jobs.

 

Yes and you don't see the connection.

 

Becaue it isnt there. That isnt because of illegal labor. All claims to the contrary are lies.

 

This thread is about legal immigrants. That's a similar discussion, but not really the same.