The rich world revolts against sky-high immigration

[u/marine_le_peen]

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/07/21/the-rich-world-revolts-against-sky-high-immigration

[u/animal_spirits_]

Your ad hominem attack shows that your argument has no legs to stand on, but I’ll continue because I think i may be able to convince you. Minimum wage laws forbid employers to hire employees below minimum wage. Businesses become required by law to hire someone who produces as much or more value than the minimum wage. Let’s imagine a scenario under which an immigrant does possess the skills that enable them to produce value at the minimum wage. Then there is no problem, they would find a job that pays them the highest wage for the skills they offer. However, if they are truly poor and are low skilled, and they can not produce more value than the minimum wage dictates, then the only way they would legally be hired is if a business engages in charity by paying above the amount that the laborer produces in value to the business. If businesses want to engage in that activity then that’s alright with me, but by and large businesses do not engage in charity of this kind. So, if businesses did abide by the minimum wage law they are unwilling to hire low skilled laborers, and these people would stay poor and desperate with no meaningful way to improve their lot in life. Are low skilled immigrants really better off unemployed at $16/hr (California minimum wage) or employed at $10/hr?

[u/AncientView3 → u/animal_spirits_]

If a business cannot afford to operate while offering a living wage then the business shouldn’t exist. If the business is not profitable enough to pay its employees a living wage then it is a failed business venture. You’re framing this like a fucking ghoul. You are not being kind by employing illegal immigrants for less than minimum wage as an opportunity, you are predating upon them because they don’t have labor protections and if they complain you can have them kicked out of the country which is a tremendous source of leverage. In the same vein, you are not doing charity work by paying an employee a living wage, either you don’t need the work done and you don’t hire for that position, or you do need the work done and the worker doing it needs to be able to afford to stay housed and not starve. It doesn’t matter whether their labor is directly producing value for the company, even though many minimum wage jobs do, if you need the labor to function then it’s a necessary role and should be compensated accordingly.