One of the complaints about illegal immigration is undocumented individuals are “taking” jobs from Americans. I don’t know how much truth there is to this because I see many of them working menial jobs or creating their own opportunities. On the other hand, many jobs that could be performed by US citizens are being shipped to other countries in exchange for cheaper labor.
According to Ron Grossman in the Chicago Tribune, Sunday, May 2, 2010, it’s hard to find products made in America, which used to be the norm. He said, “Walking the aisles of Wal-mart or Home Depot, one word repeatedly leaps to my eyes…Made in China.”
He pointed out that the one asset the Chinese has over America right now: “They manufacture things our factories once did.”
He also asked, “How can stimulus spending replace paychecks that left the Middle West for the Far East?” Yes, people in those parts are still working while the United States is experiencing record levels of unemployment. In fact, I was listening to the radio this week, and learned that 80% of Americans who were unemployed in May 2009 are still unemployed today.
On a totally un-related topic, Grossman did say that Americans went into debt with China for $6 million. That amount had risen to approximately $34 billion in 1995 and $227 billion last year. How do we get out of this one?
So, which is the bigger employment problem – illegal immigrants “taking” jobs or the shipping of jobs overseas by American companies? Whichever way you look at it, Americans are not working. And, there doesn’t seem to be an immediate solution in sight to remedy this situation.
What do you think can be done to get American’s working again?