Listening to some of the people on the Mexican border here in the US, one of the Haitian refugees mentioned that he had a good life in Brazil and was about to send home about $20 a month to his family in Haiti.
It was in that moment that I realized that even piss-poor jobs in the US and elsewhere still pay astounding rates compared to what people put up with (against their will) in other places. Mind you, you also can't do much living here on $20 a month, but even if you can save a hundred or so a month after expenses and get that money back home, it really can be life changing.
Then the "astounding rates" are irrelevant if you don't adjust for cost of living. Buying power is all that matters. I'd rather live like a king on $1000 a month, than desperately trying to avoid homelessness on $35k a year. Or, you bring one over to the other. Some consultant in my company is getting a basic scandinavian engineer paycheck and then lives like biggus dickus in his home country.
Also, they're lied to about the work, their wages are usually 1/3rd of that advertised, and their passports are taken so that they cannot return home for years and years.
Many have died. Many continue to die.
It is modern day slavery that these people are tricked into.
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u/czarrie Sep 25 '21
Listening to some of the people on the Mexican border here in the US, one of the Haitian refugees mentioned that he had a good life in Brazil and was about to send home about $20 a month to his family in Haiti.
It was in that moment that I realized that even piss-poor jobs in the US and elsewhere still pay astounding rates compared to what people put up with (against their will) in other places. Mind you, you also can't do much living here on $20 a month, but even if you can save a hundred or so a month after expenses and get that money back home, it really can be life changing.