CA: Cost of illegal-immigrant labor exceeds benefits

The labor market for local teens is seasonally dependent. Many of the kids working at my favorite restaurant have departed in recent weeks to attend college. They have been replaced by people who are high school grads, but didn't attend college. We have a surplus of qualified and unemployed people in this area. The college grads leave town as soon as they graduate. There are few businesses with openings for individuals with a college degree. There is a glut of labor supply for positions that don't require college degrees.

The guy that runs my favorite gun and pawn shop is a former farmer. He faced legal obstacles to determining whether an employee was a legal immigrant or flashing phoney id. Any attempt to check the id would bring charges of violating the applicant's civil rights. He saw the same people applying for work with different id in consecutive years. The simple solution for him was to just stop farming.

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