| Work ethic doesn’t
exist only south of the Rio Grande
March 14, 2006
A core element of the American creed has always been a belief in the dignity
of labor — at least until now. Supporters of a guest-worker program
for Mexican laborers say that "there are jobs that no Americans will
do." This is an argument that is a step away from suggesting that
there are jobs that Americans shouldn't do.
President George Bush, a strong supporter of the guest-worker program,
has long said that "family values don't stop at the Rio Grande."
We are supposed to believe, however, that the work ethic does stop there
— it is only south of it that people can be found who are willing
to work in construction, landscaping and agricultural jobs. So, without
importing those people into our labor market, these jobs would go unfilled,
disrupting the economy (and creating an epidemic of unkempt lawns in Southern
California).
This is sheer nonsense. According to a new survey by the Pew Hispanic
Center, illegals make up 24 percent of workers in agriculture, 17 percent
in cleaning, 14 percent in construction, and 12 percent in food production.
So 86 percent of construction workers, for instance, are either legal
immigrants or Americans, despite the fact that this is one of the alleged
categories of untouchable jobs.
Oddly, the people who warn that without millions of cheap, unskilled Mexican
laborers, this country would face economic disaster are pro-business libertarians.
They believe in the power of the market to handle anything — except
a slightly tighter labor market for unskilled workers. But the free market
would inevitably adjust, with higher wages or technological innovation.
Take agriculture. Phillip Martin, an economist at the University of California,
Davis, has demolished the argument that a crackdown on illegals would
ruin it, or be a hardship to consumers. Most farming — livestock,
grains, etc. — doesn't heavily rely on hired workers. Only about
20 percent of the farm sector does, chiefly those areas involving fresh
fruit and vegetables.
The average "consumer unit" in the U.S. spends $7 a week on
fresh fruit and vegetables, less than is spent on alcohol, according to
Martin. On a $1 head of lettuce, the farm worker gets about 6 or 7 cents,
roughly 1/15th of the retail price. Even a big run-up in the cost of labor
can't hit the consumer very hard.
Martin recalls that the end of the bracero guest-worker program in the
mid-1960s caused a one-year 40 percent wage increase for the United Farm
Workers Union. A similar wage increase for legal farm workers today would
work out to about a 10-dollar-a-year increase in the average family's
bill for fruit and vegetables. Another thing happened with the end of
the bracero program: The processed-tomato industry, which was heavily
dependent on guest workers and was supposed to be devastated by their
absence, learned how to mechanize and became more productive.
So the market will manage with fewer illegal aliens. In agriculture, Martin
speculates that will mean technological innovation in some sectors (peaches),
and perhaps a shifting to production abroad in others (strawberries).
There is indeed a niche for low-skill labor in America. The question is
simply whether it should be filled by illegal or temporary Mexicans workers,
or instead by legal immigrants and Americans, who can command slightly
higher wages. The guest-worker lobby prefers the former option.
If this debate is presented clearly, there is little doubt what most conservatives
— and the public — would prefer. In his second term, President
Bush has become a master of the reverse-wedge issue — hot-button
issues that divide his political base and get it to feast on itself with
charges of sexism, xenophobia and racism. The first was Harriet Miers;
then there was the Dubai ports deal; and now comes his guest-worker proposal,
making for a trifecta of political self-immolation.
There is still time for Bush to make an escape from this latest budding
political disaster, but it has to begin with the affirmation that there
are no jobs Americans won't do.
Last updated March 20, 2006 |
