From the AP via Yahoo comes another interesting survey result: "The No. 1 employers of day laborers, many of whom are illegal immigrants, are homeowners — not construction contractors, not professional landscapers." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060429/ap_on_bi_ge/hiring_day_laborers_3
"Forty-nine percent of day labor employers are homeowners, according to 2,660 laborers interviewed for the study. Contractors were second, at 43 percent. The study also found that three quarters of day laborers were illegal immigrants and most were from Latin America."
This occurs at a time when there is political discussion of the illegal immigrant question. There is particular discussion about the role employers should pay in enforcing the laws about illegal immigrant employment. So, why not throw a few red herrings in there that suggest that ordinary American homeowners are the people really to blame?
Questioning this statistic is like shooting fish in a barrel. The paragraph cited just counts "employers". So, if Joe Blow hires one man for a day to clean up his leaves, he's an employer. A landscaping firm employing 20 people for 8 months a year is also an employer, and counts equally in the stats. But the landscaping firm accounts for over 4000 more employment days than Joe Blow. This information may be in the full academic study by Dr. Valenzuela, but somehow doesn't make it into the AP article.
No comments:
Post a Comment