Construction – bizjournals.com
Temporary H-1B visas for foreign workers are in hot demand by technology companies, universities and staffing agencies.
But construction companies? A kebob restaurant?
A review of federal H-1B applications filed by local companies with the U.S. Department of Labor over the past three years turned up plenty of engineers, researchers and nurses, but also some nontraditional applicants.
Take JTS Communities, the high-end Sacramento-based homebuilder. In 2002, records show, the company submitted 56 H-1B applications for jobs in stucco, lath work, construction labor, framing, carpentry, and cement or concrete work.
From what little I know about economics, I thought that if a if a source of labor did not want to do a particular job or work, the wages were supposed to rise to the level where the source of labor would choose to do the work. It seems that every time our wages get too low, instead of raising the wages, they simply export the jobs or import the workers.
But I don’t believe the hype that Americans do not want to do these jobs. My brother works construction and the pay is very good and people are anxious to get work. The whole point of bringing in foreign workers is that those insourced workers will do the job a LOT cheaper and with fewer complaints.
As you pointed out in another posting, Americans have to be better qualified in order to compete with insourcers.
Ima has it right on the button. I know I offend a lot of my peers in home construction; but, in my neck of the woods, virtually all laborers positions are filled by illegal migrant workers. For one reason. The cost of doing business is driven down.
I actually had one friend of mine from downstate who had previously trained with a local firm for a specific construction trade — who returned after a couple years out of state. He returned to the same company and asked if they needed experienced help. They said, “Sure. You did a good job for us, before. Only you get $2/hour less, nowadays.”
He walked away.
By the way, check out http://www.bluecollarandproudofit.com — I saw this guy, Joe Lamacchia, on the news about an hour ago. He works construction and landscaping and his solution to the problems of competing with companies that rely on cheap illegal laborers — is to train and pay for the best help he can get!
His company does well enough — providing better quality work — that he can afford to do this. I haven’t wandered through the whole website; but, on MSNBC he said he pays an experienced hand $50K for a 10-month year, you get plenty of exercise and work outdoors — and you get to hide somewhere warmer during the 2 coldest months of the year [if you want to]. He’s in Newton, Mass.
I plan on getting a mouse to build me a house.
Ima, how in the heck can this happen with the state of public education today? Kids BARELY know that Kansas is a STATE, muchless being able to compete in the marketplace. In fact, the schools don’t teach subjects that were “required” when I went to school…..forget penmanship, civics, economics, world history (except a cursive overview, that doesn’t give any real concept…), geography (we’re LUCKY if a kid graduates from high school and has any idea where any country is on a map, much less state in the United States. Heck, kids can’t name the capitals, either, muchless state bird or flower, or motto!!!) and, of course, spelling is not a huge push-item. Neither is proper use of grammar, or literature, or American History (the approved text books are really pretty weak). Some schools don’t offer any track except a “college bound” one, so kids who just don’t have an interest in going on…get bored. Shop classes, auto classes, business classes, music programs, drama, and art classes have all been CUT to try and balance the budget.
In fact, schools are far too focused on boning up for the state mandated, and now, governement mandated testing — which is basically how to take tests, and only cover the material covered. Any real “learning” is from textbooks that must be approved by a group of educators (i.e. egos run amuck). These tests even CHANGE phrases of literature to make them less “offensive”!!! (Hey, from the same mindset that discourages the use of Laura Ingles Wilder’s books…Little House books…because they “show women doing housework”.)
….Sure, we’ll compete when we can address the education issues. Until then…… what?
Meetsy, I don’t buy the reason that companies outsource because there are not enough qualified people in the US. That’s BS.
First, I know plenty of high school and college age kids and they do not fit the stupid stereotype. They know their history, they know current events, they know how to spell, they can do mathematics, they are very intelligent. Could our schools be better? Sure. But to argue that our kids are wallowing in utter ignorance is highly overstated.
Second, the fact that so many former technology workers are still out of work or had to find employment outside the tech industry. There are thousands of examples on the net where qualified employees had to train foreign replacements. If these employees were qualified to teach their replacements, then obviously they were qualified for the position in the first place.
Third, I believe it was Hewlett-Packard’s CEO Carly Fiorina who once was quoted as saying (I’m paraphrasing) that out/insourcing had nothing to do with the quality of education in the US. It’s that college graduates in the US are not willing to work for less than minimum wage.
The sole reason US companies out/insource is because the labor is cheaper. It has nothing to do with education. That’s just an excuse.
Mice for Man:
Suggest you investigate using http://tinyurl.com, when you have an enormous URL to share.
I have twenty two years of experience in carpentry.
I grossed less than $25,000 last year. My boss wants me to learn Spanish. Well…I’m learning Spanish , e.g. “cerdo blanco”. That translates to english “white pig” or how about “gringo cochino” …that means filthy/dirty person of the non-spanish ethnicity.
But who do I blame for this? I blame the low wages etc. , on the businessman who will betray his own countrymen in order to make a buck. I guess the company owner doesn’t care that his cheap employees are calling him a pig behind his back, so long as he can pocket another 5%.
> It’s unclear how many applications that won first-round certifications
> ended up with visas.
I know the reporter can’t investigate the whole H-1B program, but where is the background on why and how the H-1B program works, and what job market data the administrators use to decide if particular job categories are truly impacted.
If particular jobs are going unfilled, even with rising wages, say because there aren’t qualified candidates, then I can see the need for H-1B visas. Otherwise, business and economic growth will be slowed, which _will hurt job growth in all sectors_.
Theoretically, it should be possible to administer a fair system that uses all the Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from other sources. But I find it hard to believe there’s a case at this time for admitting foreign technology workers in the SF Bay Area, or construction workers anywhere. Right now it seems like a system for finding cheaper labor, by claiming certain jobs are impacted, when businesses just can’t find people for the low wages they want to pay.
On the other hand, if businesses can legally reduce costs, then in the long run it will be good for American competitiveness. To not keep up with the global trend of tapping cheaper foreign labor will render our companies obsolete and uncompetitive, and then ALL that company’s jobs will be lost.
On Roborob’s bit about “environmentally and socially conscious” companies, The Economist just produced a survey on that very topic. Unfortunately it costs money online, but the paper edition is always worth the price. Best magazine that _covers_the_whole_world_.
A sceptical look at corporate social responsibility
Jan 20th 2005 http://www.economist.com
An amendment to the Constitution? Gimme a break.
BLOG EXCLUSIVE
2.8.2005
Will work for free. New rules suckers.
A new way to work or whatever. Will eBay survive?
SFS is a secure, global network file system with completely decentralized control. SFS lets you access your files from anywhere and share them with anyone, anywhere. Anyone can set up an SFS server, and any user can access any server from any client. SFS lets you share files across administrative realms without involving administrators or certification authorities.
Does this mean we can have an online auction without eBay? What I am thinking here is along the lines of Google. Very low user costs, very high user benefit.
See my tech blog for the whole thing.
Any ideas on this John? I’m not really sure how it goes, to forget about life for a while.
TC Moore wrote “if businesses can legally reduce costs, then in the long run it will be good for American competitiveness.”
I hope you realize that there is a difference between what is good for American competitiveness and what is good for Americans.
Imagine if every job in the US was replaced by a cheaper non-citizen, either through in or outsourcing. Would corporate America be more competitive? No doubt. Would Americans be better off? Certainly not.
This is a consequence of the new global economy and the free market. Outsourcing is just another way to cut costs and increase the stock price of a corporation. Put your money where your mouth is: don’t buy or own products or stocks from corporations that outsource. If you do, you are partially to blame for lost American jobs.
A web based company is perfect for moving work out of the United States. They can say, ‘hey we are expanding in India’ or someplace and then just ship thousands of jobs out of the United States. Sometimes it is cheaper and better to just focus on operating nationally. Southwest Airlines only flies domestic. All these other guys went international and ended up bankrupt and begging. Other countries have airlines and tech companies. They don’t need us and some don’t want U.S. companies. They can do what they want to do. Try making money in China. It isn’t easy, even if you are Chinese. Expanding globally is extremely overrated. More people have moved from China to the U.S. than have moved to China from the U.S.. Even the Japanese carmakers have built plants in the U.S.. It’s easier making money in the U.S., than any other place on earth. Big companies do dumb stuff and the public pays for it. Some do smart stuff and the public pays more for it.