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As i said above, BSDave, if our economy goes into the gutter and people are desperate for work and don't have any government handouts to rely on that situation can change. At the end of the day, the one industry all people will need to rely on more than any other is the food industry. And people tend to work very hard at jobs they actually need rather than ones they choose to do because they like it.I quit my last job on Jan 4th 2020. I was working on a farm for 11 yeas. I'm going to be straight forward About this. Ever since Donald Trump has been in office it's been harder and harder to hire Mexican labor. Most that don't have papers have been caught and sent back or has just gone back on their own. If they have papers they find jobs at restaurants and indoor places. Farm work is hard. Believe me I know first hand. This has been going on way before this virus sh#t. The farm I worked for even tried hiring Puerto Ricans. That was not a good idea at all. They sent HR people there to pick out and hire 60 at a time. Pay their plane fair hear, buy them cars. Give them houses to live in completely furnished with everything needed for life along with clothes. All they would do is drink,smoke pot never show up to work. When they did they were stoned or drunk. Drive the company cars to other states and just abandon them. Some would get off the plane here in Portland and just hop on another to a totally different state to never be seen again. And t isn't like they don't pay enough. Starting as a field worker is $2. Hour of current minimum just to find people. Tractor operators and lift drivers they pay $17.25+. A few of them I knew has also just quit to work in construction.
So yes there is a shortage of bodies in the farming business.
Something tells me many of the migrant workers I see working on my apartment complex (not one person on the crew was white, except for heavy equipment operators , engineers and developers) didn't dream of working 12+ hour days , 6 days a week in 90-100F humid gnarly Tennessee heat digging ditches, hauling heavy loads and building apartments for non-Hispanic people. There are only a few Hispanic people who even live in my complex. They do this work because it is the only opportunity they have. I saw some of these guys passed out laying on the concrete ground with a shirt over their head they were so heat exhausted literally just sleeping in the 95F heat . Never seen anything like it actually. I wonder if Tennessee has less regulations? Couldn't believe the slave like conditions I had to see these people work in.. It was pretty bad even by third world standards.
Not sure about the dilemma you are facing there, but in Tennessee there is a huge Hispanic community and many migrant workers. All landscapers, construction, agricultural work I have seen is being done by Hispanic workers. Many who cannot speak any English. Very few Hispanic people I met here who are legal residents and grew up here cannot speak English. Most Mexican Americans I know are fluent in both languages.
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