One argument that I've made about illegal immigration in the United States is that it isn't a case of illegals "doing the job that Americans won't do," but rather a de facto peasant class that drives wages down does more harm than good.
If illegal immigrants were barred from the agricultural sector, food prices wouldn't "rocket" as some have claimed. Illegals only work in a few labour-intensive areas of farming and if they were replaced with standard wage workers, the increase in the average household's food budget, according to some estimates, would be about nine dollars a year. This isn't enough to even be noticed by most consumers, but it would be enough of a spur to farmers to start investing in automation. If that were the case, we'd soon see yields go up and prices go down until illegal farm workers become a moot point because they'd never be able to compete.
A disincentive for foreigners to violate the border and more agriculture moving into the 21st century. A win win situation.
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Wednesday, 20 October 2010
2 comments:
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I thought that illegal immigrants were barred from the agricultural sector. What with them being illegal and all. Wouldn't it make more sense to legalise them and raise the agricultural minimum wage?
ReplyDeleteThat would work for precisely the time it takes for the next wave of illegals to come in and undercut the previous one.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, instantly.