@tonyclif1
Australia currently brings in workers from overseas when there are shortages in areas like fruit picking - but they MUST be paid legal wages. Our current minimum wage is $23 AUD (around $16 USD), plus they are provided free or subsidised accommodation.
@paulsukhu
Why doesn’t the US government crack down on businesses that hire workers who don’t have legal work status? It seems like eliminating the demand will greatly reduce the amount of people crossing the border illegally to fill these positions.
@tveggemeyer8103
Whatever happened to migrant labor? People used to come from Mexico, work in the ag industry, and go back home at the end of the season.
@econhelp583
It’s true that illegal immigration has kept prices down (this has been the case for decades). It is also true that cheap products produced by “slave” labor in totalitarian regimes such as China have also kept prices down. The time is now for the USA to consider the implications and moral issues of these truths.
@bearbryant3495
Perfect example of "You don't know what you've got till it's gone".
@Selloutsatirist
Keep in mind that Peter's clientele are business owners. Cheap labor is great... for them.
@Selloutsatirist
Working unskilled construction is a step towards semi-skilled and then skilled construction, which is perfectly viable career path for young people with high school diplomas. If the first rung of that ladder is crowded out or underpriced, it hurts a lot of young people.
@jmurphy6767
Another aspect of immigrant labor is they’re willing to migrate to follow the crops, construction seasons, etc. even in and out of the US. They are hardly any Americans willing to do that, regardless of wages.
@__WJK__
What myself and 10s of millions of other Americans would like to know, what’s wrong with the legal immigration process that seemed to work perfectly fine for our great grandparents, great-great grandparents, and great-great-great grandparents(!?)
@benmichel9563
Illegal immigration is 14 percent of agriculture employees. Who makes up the other 86?
@pac1fic055
The US is ADDICTED to illegal immigration and depressed wages. Expulsions combined with high tariffs will make for brutal withdrawal symptoms in the form of inflation and widespread business failures.
@dougeurom2141
Did people stop growing and wearing cotton after 1865?
@generalsupreemo9776
PZ forgot to mention that more labor supply also drives down wages.
@mike-williams
This is what happened with UK Brexit - healthcare support and agricultural workers got kicked out and both sectors suffered, and have not recovered.
@ethansmallsandthescaldeddo7645
What you said about construction is only partially true, plenty of Americans are willing to do that job but they can't compete with someone who's willing to work for a sub-living wage
@lmnooz2756
"Allow illegal migrants so you don't have to change your own bedpan" was not on my 2024 Peter Zeihan Bingo card. Yikes.
@JonathanOvanesian
i did wait 10 months the coming of Mrs my wife from somewhere in Eastern Europe to my country IE Canada. My friend, a canadian citizen also, married an Oklahoma girl and it tooks him almost 2 years to join her..... This cliche that makes the US as a paradise free for red tape and bureaucracy is tremedously ridicule.
@SuperINFINITY181
A man who examines current trends to predict likely future political and economic outcomes can only be as good or as useful as their last successful prediction. And when their predictions prove NOT to be successful, we have every right to ask why.
@toddheartsound5451
So, I don't have to pay 8% more, only 6%... But also - I don't have a job now. Yeah, totally worth it!
@andrewsteeves6982