WSJ nails the cost of mass deportations. With a surprising statistic.

Photo above - would you believe these guys make more than $40,000 a year? And they're worth it, apparently. Native born US citizens won't do this kind of work.

The link below (WSJ – Mass Deportation and Florida Jobs) appeared in the paper’s Saturday/Sunday edition (Feb 7/8). It’s now out from behind the paywall, so everyone can read it. And we should.

The jobs bonanza we were promised is nowhere in sight, and will probably never be. Crops are going unharvested, because migrant workers earning more than $40,000 a year are being deported. Auto factories cannot being built overnight to churn out affordable cars. There are hardly any Americans jobless, anyway. Unemployment was already near zero. The current 4% rate is what every Fed Reserve board over the past 4 decades has boasted as full employment.

Besides, who wants to move to Plant City, Forida (about 20 miles east of me) and pick strawberries, even if it does pay $47,000?

There’s a reason native born Americans won’t pick strawberries, even at wages that exceed what recent college grads (with humanities degrees) can earn. $47,000 is also more than teachers, police, and firemen earn to start.

About 30% of Americans are high school dropouts (or have worthless GED certificates). They don’t want to pick strawberries. Or to show up at 630 am to install power steering assembliesr, either. Some of the 4% not currently in our workforce are functionally illiterate. Some have drug and attendance issues. Some have police records, and can find waaaay easier things to do instead of picking fruit.

Tariffs on imports, and immigrants designated for deportation - these are election bait. Those things are never going to improve our living standards or tame inflation. They are fake issues which exist only to beguile someone who never picked a strawberry in their life.

If it’s not a job which you would personally do, then don’t cast shade on someone who IS doing it.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/florida-jobs-employment-immigration-e-verify-ron-desantis-5a9abb89?msockid=0dd62f13669a66411f7c3b8c67d567cd

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

They may earn that in the fruit season, but what do they do for the rest of the year?

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@ArishMell the link says "if they work the full year". which may or not be possible. but we have a LOT of crops down here. Not only strawberries, but also tomatoes, oranges, corn, melons, peppers, avocados.

about the only thing we DONT have is apples

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@SusanInFlorida It was the "if" I had in mind; but thankyou for clarifying it.

wildbill83 · 41-45, M

NC is one of the largest apple producing states on the east coast (most orchards are a few counties over from me). Within the last 20 years, it's become almost entirely mechanized due to short harvest season (late summer/early fall before frosts)

we're also 6th/7th in country for blueberries, and 3rd for strawberries; again, it's become heavily mechanized. Largest growers use annual plants rather than perennials/everbearing plants due to larger yields and ease of harvesting (digs up entire plant during harvest). Much more productive and cost effecting than paying teams of manual pickers. The growers that invested/researched mechanization early on have pretty much dominated/cornered the market in that regards

And that's always been the case with any crop; loss of cheap labor only drives innovation, it happened with cotton, it'll happen with everything else...

Christmas Trees might be one of the few possible exceptions, although not for lack of locals to do it (and plenty of us do), but simply because it is so labor intensive. Although great strides have been made in mechanizing and simplifying what can be, it's still very labor intensive during harvest season. We certainly don't rely on illegal workers though (too unskilled and untrustworthy quite frankly).

The majority of our "migrant" workforce have now done it long enough that they don't need to be trained yearly, and can either speak english well (or at least understand enough to not need a full time translator), and actually appreciate the opportunity to be here on a path to US citizenship (several of which I consider close friends and sadly to say, are more American than many US born Americans these days...)

Quite frankly, the notion that the loss of illegal migrants will someone ruin these industries is absurd & short sighted; those who rely on it are only driving themselves out of business for failure to improve and innovate. Personally, I find it hilarious when competitors push themselves to obsolescence (more customers and more money for us...)