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I had to read the article to sort out the wage levels the “whistle blower” was describing. First I don't doubt that wages have been depressed by illegal workers in the trades. However, I think the amount of the depression at the worker end is not as radical as some seem to concluding.

I think that the $45/hr refers to the amount that the contractor charges to his client as the current rate with the wage to a master level construction carpenter that can run a job at about $25/hr. That's about a 1.8 multiplier, which strikes me as high since their business model is to immediately layoff when a job is complete and no other work is available to roll into.

I am retired now from consulting engineering and am acquainted with multipliers. For example, both white collar salaried workers and skilled techs (likely with a college AS or BS degree or military training) will have a target 3.0 multiplier. These folks are permanent employees not temps that come and go as billable projects come and go. The higher multiple is to cover the wages during the slack times when there is zero billable so as not to layoff.

On demand, I can contact various temp companies that can provide me with any trade or skill and provide me with workers that are US citizens or legally resident aliens with a green card plus the workers are covered under workers comp and their temp company employer is insured. The rates to me are fair and the salary to the worker in line with local rates.

I believe that the tax issue is the driver for the illegal workers in the trades. By tax issue, this really means tax fraud initiated by the employer to put more $$$ in their pocket and facilitating illegals doing their frauds. Hmmmm sounds a bit like a RICO operation. The IRS and DOJ could crush this and since they have not are complicit.