zlacker

>>tysone+(OP)
Wage growth would help, but for some reason, these articles never even mention immigration. The scale of immigration both legal and illegal I believe has the greatest impact on the lowest sectors of society. The lack of discussion on the impact so many potential new workers is having on wage growth leads one to think they believe labor cost is the one thing immune to the law of supply and demand.

>>tosser+aH
It’s interesting the immigration cannot even be mentioned without getting down voted.

It seems obvious to me that fewer low skill workers would result in higher wages for those who could most benefit from it.

>>tosser+6I
It’s more complicated than that though. In Denmark where I live, we have trouble staffing certain industry jobs. Jobs like gutting, freezing and packing fish or general slaughter houses.

It used to be that these were low paying jobs, packed with immigrants. Since you need a social security number to work, and we’re rather good at finding people who cheat the system, illegal immigration workers isn’t really a thing in factories. But the system and legalization was still exploited so paying immigrants less was possible.

Anyway eventually regulation caught up and ended the low pay loopholes. So now a job at those factories pays half a million kroner a year, or more than I earn as a senior IT-architect.

As a result a lot of our slaughtering houses moved production and enrichment out of the country, but the really interesting thing is the fishing factories. They couldn’t move or outsource production because they need to be located close to where the fish are caught.

Despite the pay hike they still can’t hire enough people without relying on immigration. It turned out that nobody wanted those jobs, even when they pay really well.

Ps. Im not sure what fishing factories and slaughtering houses are called in English but I hope you get the point.

>>sidstl+zT
Your story is very confusing. If (legal) immigrant workers were willing to work for a lower pay (because of the low-pay loopholes) why wouldn't they be willing to work now for a higher pay?

>>kgwgk+UV
The story isn’t about immigrants, they are still willing to work the jobs, as you point out. Instead it’s an example of how the narrative of “if immigrants didn’t cause low wages then Danes would work the jobs” isn’t always true.

It’s not just that it’s hard labour either, it’s also that handling fish is extremely low prestige.

So the story is more about the nuances and complicated nature of the job market. It’s easy to blame immigration, and it’s not like immigration doesn’t have an impact, it’s just that there are a lot more forces at play.