They Live, We Sleep: A Dictatorship Disguised as a Democracy

Having been an owner of three different businesses in the last 40+ years I can tell you there has been a shift in the work ethic of young Americans. There may be a surplus of workers, but there are jobs Americans will not do no matter what your opinion is.

For example: I live in the CA desert. I challenge anyone to find an American who will do landscape labor in 113 degree heat, as it is expected to be today. The landscape company owner might do some, but I am talking labor. I can list countless jobs you will be unlikely to find an American-born citizen to do.

You seem to have a very low opinion of Americans and their work ethic. Fortunately, the facts are much different than you assert. How about some real data from the Bureau of the Census?

Are There Really Jobs Americans Won’t Do? A detailed look at immigrant and native employment across occupations

This analysis tests the often-made argument that immigrants do only jobs Americans don't want. If the argument is correct, there should be occupations comprised entirely or almost entirely of immigrants (legal and illegal). But Census Bureau data collected from 2009 to 2011, which allows for detailed analysis of all 472 separate occupations, shows that there were only a handful of majority-immigrant occupations. Thus, there really are no jobs that Americans won't do. Further, we estimated the share of occupations that are comprised of illegal immigrants, and found that there are no occupations in which the majority of workers are illegally in the country.

Of the 472 civilian occupations, only six are majority immigrant (legal and illegal). These six occupations account for 1 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Moreover, native-born Americans still comprise 46 percent of workers even in these occupations.

Many jobs often thought to be overwhelmingly immigrant (legal and illegal) are in fact majority native-born:

Maids and housekeepers: 51 percent native-born

Taxi drivers and chauffeurs: 58 percent native-born

Butchers and meat processors: 63 percent native-born

Grounds maintenance workers: 64 percent native-born

Construction laborers: 66 percent native-born

Porters, bellhops, and concierges: 72 percent native-born

Janitors: 73 percent native-born

Natives tend to have high unemployment in high-immigrant occupations, averaging 14 percent during the 2009-2011 period, compared to 8 percent in the rest of the labor market. There were a total of 2.6 million unemployed native-born Americans in high-immigrant occupations.

Some may think that native-born workers in high-immigrant occupations are mostly older, with few young natives willing to do such work. But 34 percent of natives in these occupations are age 30 or younger, compared to 27 percent of natives in the rest of labor force.

No, I do not have a low opinion of Americans and their work ethic. However, I have specifically been in businesses that required young workers. I said young workers have a different work ethic over time. One would have to see numbers broken out by age.

Instead of encouraging young people to train in the trades, the push among educators is to convince even unqualified students that they need a college education. This gives some of these young people false expectations.

If you live in the liberal cesspool called CA, I can understand your perspective. The state is overrun with immigrants and illegal aliens.

Young native born workers want jobs. They are competing against an ocean of cheap labor. Remember when McDonalds offered jobs and long lines formed for blocks? Teenage employment is at its lowest since the end of WWII.

Since 1990 we have brought in 30 million legal permanent immigrants and we have an estimated 12 to 20 million illegal aliens. In 1970 the foreign born population of the US was one in 21; today it is one in 8, the highest in 90 years; and within a decade it will be one in 7, the highest in our history. Anyone who thinks that this has little impact on the employment of our native born population is smoking something.

We have 260,000 college graduates in minimum wage jobs.

Teen employment hits record lows, suggesting lost generation

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