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What's
Not Being Discussed: Racism, Job Creation and a Living Wage
Do Immigrants Really
Take Jobs from the Urban Poor?
By EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON
The young black man hesitated as he
stood outside the small furniture manufacturing shop in South
Los Angeles. He was dressed neatly, and he was well groomed.
He eyed the building warily. The sign on the narrow glass door
in English and Spanish, read "help wanted" and trabajo
aqui. The opening was for a shop helper, mostly to sweep up and
do routine clean up and maintenance. It did not require any education
or special skill. It paid minimum wage, as did the thousands
of shops that dotted the area. The company had no employee health
care plan, or other benefits.
After a moment he went in and
politely asked for an application. The petite receptionist, a
young Latina, handed him an application form, with an airy nonchalance.
She curtly suggested that he fill it out and bring it back. When
he asked if there would be an interview, she haltingly said only
if there was a position open. The young man looked perplexed,
glanced at the help wanted sign, politely thanked her and left.
A couple of hours later two other young Latinos came in to apply.
One was immediately hired. The other was told that another helper
job might open up within the next few days. However, the workers
in the shop, as they were in nearly all the other shops in the
area were Latinos, a large percentage of who were illegal immigrants.
There were no other blacks,
whites, or even English speaking native-born Latino workers in
the plant or at few of the other shops in the area. This is not
a fictional story. I personally witnessed the scene at the company
involving the black job seeker. Anti-illegal immigration activists
say that the experience of the young black job seeker has played
out thousands of times at restaurants, hotels, on farms, and
at manufacturing plants nationally, and that this is a major
reason so many young black males are unemployed join gangs, deal
drugs and pack America's jails.
Congress will hammer out a
comprehensive immigration reform law. But it won't answer this
question: Do the estimated 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants
in the country take jobs from American citizens, especially the
bottom rung American workers, the young, the poor and more often
than not African-American workers?
What if the young black job
seeker, or any other American looking for work in a low end manufacturing
plant or a restaurant in Los Angeles, were offered that job which
probably pays minimum wage and doesn't offer any benefits or
job security? Would he take it? Maybe yes, maybe no. It's certainly
hard to imagine that a young black from South Los Angeles, South
Chicago, or Harlem, not to mention a native born young white
or Latino going out to the fields to pick strawberries for 10
to 12 hours a day in the hot sun at minimum or even sub-minimum
wages. Or, that they'd take a job at a car wash or bus dishes
in a restaurant. But what if the farm contractors, car wash owners,
and manufacturers paid a living wage and provided benefits. It
might be a different story, at least for some young people in
Los Angeles.
Then there's the regional factor.
There is some evidence that young workers will work jobs in the
South and the Midwest. Jobs that have long been designated as
jobs that only illegal immigrants will work, that is if those
jobs were offered to them. But when employers give the quick
brush-off to young blacks and other young American workers that
are willing to take lower end jobs, they send the not-so-subtle
message that they are not wanted or welcome. This is a powerful
disincentive for them to pursue work in these taboo areas of
the job market. The end result is that an entire category of
jobs at the ground rung of American industry is clearly marked
as "Latino only." The fight over jobs and illegal immigration
came at the worst possible time for the urban poor.
Shrinking federal and state
budgets for job training and creation programs, industry downsizing,
and escalating crime and violence in inner city neighborhoods
made banks and corporations even more reluctant to invest in
these communities, and that made the job situation even worse.
The young black in Los Angeles
and other cities that anti-illegal immigration opponents cite
as proof that illegal immigration is ruinous for the economy
and the urban poor may or may not have lost out in his job hunt
to an illegal immigrant. But he also might have lost out in his
job search because of discrimination, poor education, government
budget slashes and the flight of manufacturers to other countries.
That is no excuse not to ensure that American workers have the
right to work in any and all industries. That would do much to
calm the fury of many Americans who worry that illegal immigration
sledgehammers at least some American workers. Congress and the
Bush Administration must not ignore that worry.
CounterPunch
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