Seasonal jobs going unfilled

[underpants]

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch

A temporary-worker visa program is entangled in the immigration debate


Landscaping and seafood processing are among Virginia's many seasonal industries that in the past decade have come to rely on foreign temporary workers to carry them through peak seasons.

Now, those employers say the federal temporary-worker visa program has become tangled in the politically charged immigration debate on Capitol Hill, where stalled progress is suffocating their livelihood.

Last year, however, Congress did not renew the "returning worker" provisions of the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 to cover this fiscal year.
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That premise draws little sympathy in some corners. The notion that a shrinking supply of foreign seasonal labor will cripple businesses is "nonsense," said Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on workers.

"What changed in the economy that suddenly these businesses couldn't survive without these foreign workers? Nothing," he said. "It's wrong; it's bad policy."



Read more: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-04-23-0145.html

[cornermouse]

1. Gee.

I guess they'll just have to pay a real salary. No sympathy from me.

[notesdev]

2. Try a wage

that an American can live on. Plenty of less-than-fully employed people who would get their hands dirty and do it.

[williesgirl]

3. If they'd let folks know there are job openings, they'd have lines of interviewees. But they want

cheap foreign labor with no benefits. Screw them just like they've been screwing us.

[High Plains]

4. Reflexive bashing of small businesses is not very useful.

Even if it may feel good.

Does anyone actually know what these folks were paying their workers?

Are you smart-asses ready to move to Virginia for a few months to pack seafood and mow lawns?

Like everybody else, small businesses are caught in a squeeze. Just raise wages? Then what? Raise prices? Lower profits? Go out of business? It's the relentless logic of capitalism.

[underpants]

5. I posted both sides from this article

I did so because it was the fairest representation of the article within the 4 paragraph rule

I don't bash small businesses. I have several friends who own and run small businesses. I am fully aware of what it takes to do that and I am aware that they can't make socio-economic stands they have to get the damned grass cut or they lose that business...etc.

One funny thing about Virginia-there is a lot of seasonal work. I grew up near Williamsburg and seasonal work was plentiful, still is. It is so important to this state that the schools can't open before Labor Day because they need people/bodies to serve the tourists (let alone agriculture).

[Trillo]

6. I think what you're seeing is a response the the title.

Supply-demand logic says when a job isn't getting filled, the wages are probably too low.

Before you accuse me of being a smart ass, realize I mowed lawns for a number of years, but in an area where the tasks were year round instead of seasonal.

Since transportation costs are rising, it suggests that local labor will be favored. If a job is seasonal, and it's going to be filled by local labor, then where locally do those people work the rest of the off-season? Does the seasonal job pay enough, and are workers local expenses low enough, that working during the season is enough to cover expenses during the off season? Do the employers offer housing as part of their compensation? If so, is that only for the duration of the season? Does the local government support low-cost housing for local workers so they can actually live year round on low seasonal wages?

[Beer Snob-50]

7. i am cuurently the sr accountant of a wholesale nursery

in the northeast. we find that we have to hire foreign workers because no one from the area will work. we pay between 8-9 dollars/hr and we find many of the locals will work for a day or two and then never show up again. many of these foreign workers come back year after year to work for us.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

8. Hey pirate... I just finished working on an H-2A

for 25 workers, some of whom have been working with this nursery grower for 20 years... and they too complained that local workers will show up for a week or two and then leave, whereas their H-2A workers are reliable. Moreover, H-2A workers have to be paid at the adverse wage level (which is $8.85 an hour here in NC).

[Beer Snob-50]

9. and they are great workers also

as far as i know, we have no minimum wage we have to pay these workers. currently some of newer ones make the minimum wage and many of the ones who have been here for years make more than that.