Why do many farmers need migrant workers when there is a abundance of americans willing to work?

Question

Are these the same americans that say that their jobs are taken by illegals?

Answer 1

I live in an apple growing region. a bin of apples weigh about 900 lbs. The worker who harvests the apples gets paid much less than a 1/2 penny per pound. Go to the store and check the price of apples. Would you object to paying a full half penny per pound more? I'm 65 and I would pick apples every fall if I was paid comencerate to the degree of hard work.

The farming corporations don't need to use illegal workers, they just need to be fair to legal workers and abandon their mindset of getting their crops harvested as cheap as possible, and pinch fractions of a penny.    

Answer 2

Most migrant workers are here legally on a migrant worker visa. the illegals work anywhere that is willing to look the other way. Big companies take advantage of this because we can pay them less thus the koser meat plant incident, or the tyson chicken bust 4 years ago.

Answer 3

for starters, most americans are not willing to work at farms, specially for such low rates of pay and no benefits altogether.

secondly, they dont really hire migrant workers, since most of them are illegal immigrants, which drops the rate of pay even lower.

would you work 60 to 80 hours a week at 6 dollars an hour or less with no benefits, even if you had no education?

that's why most unemployed americans are sitting at home collecting unemployment benefits and complaining about illegal immigrants, because even if these farmers would hire them, they are still making more money watching tv at home.

Answer 4

Migrant workers can be illegals, but the term itself does not infer illegals. A Migrant worker is a person who travels with the ripening of the crops, usually working in Arizona, Florida, and Southern California in the winter months moving North as the crops ripen in the summer and fall of the year. Then starting the whole process over again. Most of the ones who travel the circuit to where I live is US Citizens.  

Answer 5

No they are not the same Americans otherwise they would not be saying this.  I was born here but as a young boy my entire family did the farm work that both legal and illegal migrant workers do.  Believe me Americans do not want to do that kind of work or any other "hard" work.  It is to too dam hard, the pay too low, and not full time work.  Even Hispanic-Americans do want to do that kind of work.  In 2007 I hired two Hispanic-Americans and one Anglo-American to work for me remodeling a house.  I paid them $10.00 an hour (above minimum wage).  All three quit in two weeks because "its too hard" they said.  I could not find anyone else until two illegals came by and asked for the job at $7.00 an hour.  They finished the job in five days.  I paid them $10.00 an hour and plus I gave them $50.00 extra for the darn good job they did!

The real reason I went on to college and earn a masters degree and stayed in the Air Force for 24 years was due to what I experienced when I myself was a migrant worker.

How many Americans do you know want to work the night shift at Tysons pulling guts out of Tyson chickens? Get my point?

Answer 6

Are there ?

Maybe, but not working picking fruit or lettuce for just cents like the illegals

Yanks want to be paid $10/hour at least, with benefits, vacations, holidays, sick leave, paid leave, etc, etc

Answer 7

Because that "Abundance of Americans" are too Fat & Spoiled to lower themselves to working 12 hours a day for less than Minimum wage- cutting lettuse in a field, 50 miles from nowhere... :0  

Answer 8

Because they are not willing to work that hard in hot weather. I have been in a labor camp in California, there is not enough money in the world to make me want to do that kind of work. If you posted the question "why do I have to press one for English" 150 times they wouldn't complain. They are the only ones allowed to be repetitive.

Answer 9

There is never a need for illegal migrant workers; those who enter legally are more than welcome.  In addition, Americans will work these and many other jobs when their wages are not undercut by illegal alien criminals and when they are paid a liveable wage for a day's work.

Answer 10

Where I am from, there are a large number of Americans who are working as Migrant workers. I grew up working on various farms. My family have all worked on farms.

I won't do it anymore for 2 reasons. Number 1 is that it is not steady, year round, full time, work and there are usually no benefits provided. I have a family to raise and I will not live with my family in a trailer and follow what temporary work there is on the farms.

Number 2, I am making a very good living and providing better sustenance for my family now than I could do even if I owned the farm. Am I afraid of work?

No, I work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for 4 months at a time with fifteen to 20 days off between to spend with my family. I spend my days out in the sun where temperatures reach over 120 in the summer and I love my job because of what it provides for my family.

I personally feel you need to get yourself a job and stop trying to turn an immigration issue into a race issue.

Stop spreading your hate and discontent.

Answer 11

Because Americans need to be paid well, they need benefits, they need weekends and holidays off,  they need a 10 minute break every hour to smoke a cigarette, they want to show up 10 minutes late and leave 10 minutes early, and they want to be treated like they're special.

Answer 12

It's because Americans aren't willing to do work in the fields like they are.  It's too "hard" and the days are too long for them.  Migrant workers are willing to do the work for a fraction of what Americans would get paid just because they need to make money for their families.  Most of them are d**n hard workers too.  

When someone says to me that illegals are taking their jobs, I always counter with, if you wanted it so bad, why didn't you go get it.  People always want to complain and say they're taking jobs away when they're the ones that are doing the jobs that no one else wants to do for little pay.

People always think bad about them too.  Recently my town had migrant workers move into an apartment building and you should have heard all the people in that neighborhood complain and assume that all of them were murderers and rapists.  It's terrible.

Answer 13

Most Americans DON'T want to do that kind of work.. duh. We would rather sit on our computers and watch our butts get bigger than sweat out in the sun for 10 hours a day.