Study says guest worker program may help stop illegal immigration

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The Cato Institute says tougher border enforcement would reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. workforce. But the libertarian think tank says it would also increase the value of the illegal immigrant workers that remain.

It’s supply-and-demand: fewer unskilled illegal immigrant workers available for some of the grimiest work means their pay goes up. And Cato estimates that as their pay went up, everyone else’s income would go down by about half a percent.

But Cato says if the U.S. adopted a guest worker program for low-skilled immigrants, it would hold down their pay and increase everyone else’s by more than a percent. The Cato study says a guest worker program that offered temporary green cards to immigrant workers would eliminate smuggler fees and create higher immigrant productivity. The Cato Institute did not examine the economic impact of giving illegal immigrants permanent legal status.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/08/17/immigration-study/

[Heracles 417]

Why do you refuse to pay attention to Americas unemployed? Not to mention California's 13%+ unemployment rate or the 12,000,000 Californians living in poverty.

[Darnell 8,478]

Perhaps Mexico would adopt The Philippines 'foreign worker' program. That would, IMO, vette all 'applicants' into any foreign country for employment.

[Heracles 417]

Temp work programs do work, well in countries with low unemployment. All illegal aliens and temp workers have and will do here is continue to suppress wages.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Temp work programs do work, well in countries with low unemployment. All illegal aliens and temp workers have and will do here is continue to suppress wages.

You do know that we currently have one here, right?

H-2A Guestworker Program

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Labor Department Reverses Bush Administration Changes to H-2A Guestworker Program

WASHINGTON, DC− The Labor Department announced today new regulations for the H-2A agricultural guestworker program that would largely undo changes to the program made by the outgoing Bush Administration over a year ago. The last-minute regulations changes by the previous administration slashed wage rates and worker protections that had been the standard for over 20 years. The new rules take effect on March 15.

“This is a victory for our nation’s farmworkers,” said Bruce Goldstein, Executive Director of Farmworker Justice, a national farmworker advocacy group based in Washington DC. “It’s a reversal of radical anti-worker policies imposed by the previous administration that irresponsibly stripped away basic procedures and worker protections set in place by a Republican administration in 1987.”

Farmworker advocates have long criticized the H-2A guestworker program for its lax labor protections for both U.S. and guestworkers. The Bush Administration changes lowered minimum required wage rates and reduced government oversight despite the program’s obligation to ensure that employers hire U.S. workers before receiving permission to hire foreign guestworkers.

“The Bush Administration's changes gave agricultural employers access to cheap foreign labor with little government oversight,” Goldstein explained. “These new regulations restore the balance that the law requires. We commend Secretary Solis for spending her time and resources on helping the most vulnerable workers in the country,” added Goldstein. “We look forward to working with the Department of Labor for additional reforms and improved enforcement of the protections to end longstanding abuses under the H-2A program.”

Some of the key changes are the following:

• Wage rate change: The Bush Administration adopted a wage rate formula that lowered wage rates by an average of over $1.00 per hour, and $2.00 in some places, using statistics that did not accurately reflect market rates. The new regulations restore the former wage formula, which is based on USDA wage surveys of farmworkers and farms
• Wage deductions: The regulations will make clearer that employers cannot evade the H-2A program wage rate by taking deductions out of wages.
• Transportation reimbursement. The new rules restore the longstanding requirement of reimbursement of workers' long distance transportation costs. The Bush Administration changed the rule so that employers would only pay travel costs from the U.S. consulate in the foreign country, even though many workers travel long distances to get to the consulate from their homes before entering the U.S.
• The new regulations restore the requirement that there be a pre-occupancy housing inspection of the premises where H-2A workers will be living, to ensure safe and healthy quarters.
• Disclosure of job terms will now be required by the time the foreign worker applies for a visa, in a language the worker understands, so that the workers know what their job terms will be.

more...

[Heracles 417]

You do know that we currently have one here, right?

H-2A Guestworker Program

If the US already has that visa then what is the fuss about? Furthermore, there is no reason for anyone to jump the border.