Taking Back American Jobs

Americans lose many jobs to immigrant workers. Reason being, they do the jobs Americans don’t want to do, they complain less, and get paid less. Sounds like a win-win for the corporation and immigrant, but a loss for the American.

Well the tides have been changing, which has put the American job back into the hands of the American…

Immigration Bills and a Change of Heart
One of the reasons for this change are the immigration-type bills which have been creeping into our local legal systems. These bills are designed to safeguard American jobs and ensure that the few that are available, will not be going to illegal immigrants, and Americans are applying for these jobs like never before.

One such type of job which is quite popular in Colorado during this time of year, is helping organic farmers with their crops for the season. Each growing season, Colorado organic farmers go to the H-2A program, which is designed to help companies hire foreign workers for temporary and seasonal work.

Last year, as the job market was sinking, there were 171 H-2A jobs available in Colorado, and of those, 39 were taken by U.S. residents looking for work. During the last couple months, the H-2A saw that number spike to 887 applications for these jobs.

U.S. Residents Are Picking Jobs Clean for 2009
So far for 2009 there have been 1,799 U.S. resident applications collected for 726 announced jobs, and guess who’s getting dibs on most of these? This is bad news for foreign workers and immigrants, many of which count on these jobs to allow them to stay in this country illegally and work to send money to their family’s.

But should we feel guilty? This country is in a state of emergency and we should focus our efforts on our legal citizens. A paycheck is a paycheck, whether it comes from organic farming or hazardous waste clean-up. Today, professors, carpenters, and museum curators are applying for positions they would have never thought about a year ago. Officials are estimating we could see a 10 percent unemployment rate within the coming months, which is catastrophic!

If you are among the jobless statistics and from Colorado, you can look into these organic farming jobs through the farms themselves or the state unemployment website.

(Photo via: Giopuo)