At least 34 percent of Arizona’s construction workers are here illegally, based on estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group. Two dozen local legal and illegal workers reported that in their experience, the percentage is more than half.
Higher wages might help draw more legal workers to the field, but several local builders and subcontractors worry that could drive down profit margins they say already are so thin they’re mulling other careers.
Legal workers would fill the void if the industry paid more to the approximately 27,000 it has now, says concrete subcontractor Bill Nelson, who has worked in construction here for 45 years.
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I thought illegals only took jobs that Americans didn’t want, like picking lettuce and cleaning bathrooms? I wouldn’t classify construction jobs as being “beneath” us.
I particularly enjoy the classic rationale that they have families here, work hard, and show up on time…why should I ruin their lives by firing them and making them leave the country? Translation: “I don’t care how they got here or what their status is…I am making some serious coin off these people and they work like mules.”
Just replace the words illegal immigrants in these types of statements with any other law-breaking term, such as prostitute, and they don’t sound quite as convincing. Other lawbreakers use the same justification: I am just trying to provide for my family, I am not hurting anyone, etc.
In terms of the housing market, if these developers and contractors actually hired legal residents, maybe more of them could actually afford a home in the area they are building them. I take that back, they would have to pay the construction workers a heck of a lot more for them to afford to live here.
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