re: There aren’t enough skilled workers and guys under 40 willing to work with their hands

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They work it because they have no choice.

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No. They work it because they actually have a work ethic and they want to provide for their families without assistance. BTW, a very small percentage of them are Mexican. They're Hispanics from a lot of different countries. They are most certainly not "all" Mexican.

The Mexican part wasn't directed at you but the person you quoted.

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. Their work for lower pay allows you to pay the price you do for oranges, fruit and vegetables among other things

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Yes, agriculture depends on migrants, legal or otherwise. The beneficiary is the American consumer

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I know a couple young guys looking who have found its not exactly what you hear. Might be openings, but they want experience and many not willing to train young guys looking to start in a trade.

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Trade unions might can help. Paid 4 year training.

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gain you guys are over estimating what an immigrant can do. Immigrants can work basic construction labor and then slowly learn something like bricklaying, roofing, carpentry, etc.

But immigrants will never be electricians, plumbers, etc. that require a certification and more involved work. At least not in the sense of immediately doing the job, they could immigrate and become a plumber after 10 years or so.

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This is the big picture. The types of skills are already in a glut and we are facing a multi-decade issue. The idea is to integrate these folks into filling those roles in the labor pool. We tend to think about us today and not the next generation but here we are

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But immigrants will never be electricians, plumbers, etc. that require a certification and more involved work

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Hate to burst that bubble but I've run into a lot of immigrants who worked up to be electricians, plumbers, etc and gasp, some of them have even started their own business and are fully integrated into our culture.

I know, you didn't say it.

It is good input. This is what we need to happen and policy needs to lubricate the wheels for this to happen

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Then how am I wrong? We are talking skilled workers here, not basic labor.

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you don’t think there’s skilled labor immigration? No tradesmen in Latin America coming here?

and the guys that aren’t can and do quickly learn. Not every Hispanic you see on a jobsite is an illegal unskilled laborer.

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Hate to burst that bubble but I've run into a lot of immigrants who worked up to be electricians, plumbers, etc and gasp, some of them have even started their own business and are fully integrated into our culture. I know, you didn't say it.

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I said it and I stand by it. You were also in the DC area and doing large projects that’s not a realistic big picture.

A lot of immigrants bring in friends and family from home. Help them out and it’s also…cheap labor. Train them up, etc.

I know around me there’s multiple
Brazilian Brickpavers companies and that’s not exactly a well known trade in Brazil. I know the guy that started it all and he did exactly that.

I’m not sure there’s as much of a labor issue as people think, personally. Do these guys want o make a decent living or not? If there was more competition the market likely drives their pay down. If real estate takes a crap in the next year or two let’s see how many we still need.

The real key to this labor issue is to stop providing welfare and ‘living wages’ to people that don’t do shite when they are fully capable.

Almost any commercial project with a GC is going to require documented workers. If it's a government project or a big CG is running it 100% will require documentation and background checks. Residential is different. That's where you're going to run into undocumented labor all the time. Documented as well but a ton of undocumented.

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The real key to this labor issue is to stop providing welfare and ‘living wages’ to people that don’t do shite when they are fully capable.

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Agreed, but those people are most certainly not the hispanic immigrants that have been posted about a lot.

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you don’t think there’s skilled labor immigration? No tradesmen in Latin America coming here? and the guys that aren’t can and do quickly learn. Not every Hispanic you see on a jobsite is an illegal unskilled laborer.

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I said trade jobs that require certification many times. We can agree to disagree on skilled labor because I was going with skilled means something with somewhat official training that most complete. A lot of these trades jobs like you are discussing like framing, painting, basic carpentry, roofing, bricklaying, etc. is certainly a trade but don’t require certification and most of those guys start off as a basic laborer for a couple months and then grow into it more and more. Many of them are incredibly skilled at their craft, don’t get me wrong.

There are very few immigrants that come here with something like a certification as a plumber and continue as a plumber in the states.