Black Jobs
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Yeah, I'll go there...
Down here, when people would have said "black jobs" twenty years ago, you thought of concrete and foundation crews, masons, tile crews, roofers. Sure, the service jobs had their share of black folks, but those were mixed, as were manufacturing, healthcare and government jobs.
Today, you rarely see blacks working those construction jobs. Those jobs have been taken by hispanic immigrants, legal and illegal.
I'll give you an illustration where I have first hand knowledge...
My niece married a hard-working young man who was raised working as a glazier. After they married, he started his own business, doing mostly light commercial work. As his business has grown, he has gotten more jobs and bigger jobs. He has hired people for his business, but he has found it more economical to hire subcontractors. A lot, not all, but a lot of the guys he hired for his entry level positions were black.
He doesn't know for sure - he doesn't ask - but the subcontractors likely hire a lot of illegal labor. But they work cheap. And the reason he hires them, is that his competitors do the same thing.
When you bid jobs, other than Bacon-Davis jobs, it's about meeting the specs as cheap as you can, while still doing decent work.
That's the way it is...
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Yeah, I'll go there...
Down here, when people would have said "black jobs" twenty years ago, you thought of concrete and foundation crews, masons, tile crews, roofers. Sure, the service jobs had their share of black folks, but those were mixed, as were manufacturing, healthcare and government jobs.
Today, you rarely see blacks working those construction jobs. Those jobs have been taken by hispanic immigrants, legal and illegal.
I'll give you an illustration where I have first hand knowledge...
My niece married a hard-working young man who was raised working as a glazier. After they married, he started his own business, doing mostly light commercial work. As his business has grown, he has gotten more jobs and bigger jobs. He has hired people for his business, but he has found it more economical to hire subcontractors. A lot, not all, but a lot of the guys he hired for his entry level positions were black.
He doesn't know for sure - he doesn't ask - but the subcontractors likely hire a lot of illegal labor. But they work cheap. And the reason he hires them, is that his competitors do the same thing.
When you bid jobs, other than Bacon-Davis jobs, it's about meeting the specs as cheap as you can, while still doing decent work.
That's the way it is...
@Jolly said in Black Jobs:
but the subcontractors likely hire a lot of illegal labor. But they work cheap.
Yup.
I have said before that I am in big favor of LEGAL immigration, but any crackdown on illegal immigration will have (unintended) consequences. Vegetable and fruit prices will increase. Construction costs will increase. Restaurant prices will increase. Etc.
But, still better to work on decreasing illegal immigration and increasing legal immigration.
