What Are The Jobs Americans Won't Do

[Sanslines]

Dirty Work:

What are the jobs Americans won't do?

By Daniel Gross

The United States is a nation of hard workers. Compared with many other developed countries, the U.S. boasts high rates of labor-force participation and productivity and has a very low unemployment rate. Americans work longer hours than Europeans—1,804 hours per worker for the United States in 2005, compared to 1,434 in Germany and 1,535 in France, according to the OECD.

Yet it's increasingly common to hear politicians, CEOs, and immigration activists impugn American workers as a bunch of shiftless layabouts who regard many good jobs as beneath their dignity. That, they say, is why employers have to turn to immigrants—some of them legal, many of them illegal. To hear CEOs tell it, they'd much rather hire English-speaking, tax-paying U.S. citizens, people who won't disrupt operations by getting rounded up in Homeland Security sweeps. But they just can't find any Americans willing to do their jobs. As President Bush himself said last March, the United States needs a temporary guest-worker program that would "match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill jobs that Americans will not do."

What are these jobs that Americans will not do? Do they exist? Or are they a figment of the business community's imagination? It turns out that their claims are largely true—there are plenty of jobs Americans avoid. Let's take a tour of them. Americans shun pretty much any unskilled labor that requires them to get their hands dirty: landscaping, entry-level construction, picking fruits and vegetables (Reuters reports that "up to 70 percent of U.S. farm workers are estimated to be undocumented, totaling about 500,000 people"), cleaning hotel rooms, busing tables, and prep cooking in urban restaurants.

But the refusal to do jobs is moving up the value chain. American workers appear to be less interested in some kinds of factory jobs. The Washington Post, for example, recently reported that Georgia's carpet factories are increasingly dominated by Mexican immigrant workers.

Americans, it seems, are also less willing to take stressful jobs that require lots of training and long hours, and that require them to work in unpleasant environments. For example, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing is warning of a nursing shortage. This survey from the American Hospital Association says there are 118,000 nursing vacancies in the United States. Meanwhile, a 2003 report by the Council on Graduate Medical Education suggested there could be a shortage of anywhere from 65,000 to 150,000 doctors in 2020. (Given the time it takes to educate and train a physician, it's not too soon to worry.)

Spending your days tethered to a computer is also work that many Americans avoid. The Information Technology Association of America notes that 77 percent of companies it polled said there was a shortage of qualified IT talent in the United States. The solution: Import more geeks. The ITAA (and pretty much every technology company) supports boosting the number of H-1B visas above the current limit of 65,000 per fiscal year.

The more one looks, the more shortages of willing workers appear. Bryan Bender of the Boston Globe last month reported that the Pentagon is "considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks—including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to U.S. citizenship if they volunteer." Today, about 2 percent of the soldiers protecting America—about 30,000—aren't technically Americans. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported on a dire shortage of professors of accounting, finance, and management that may cause some schools to curtail course offerings. "AACSB International, the accrediting organization for business schools, estimates a shortage of 1,000 Ph.D.s in the U.S. this year that will grow to 2,400 by 2012." (Apparently, American citizens with Ph.D.s in accounting, finance, and management can get high-paying, satisfying jobs in the private sector. Who knew?)

For the industries involved, and for their customers—everyone from meat-eaters to hospital patients—these shortages are a real challenge. But when employers have difficulty filling jobs at the wages they wish to pay, and as a result seek foreign-born workers, they shouldn't blame it on a fundamental unwillingness of Americans to work in those industries or professions. After all, in many of these fields—construction, nursing, the military, teaching, accounting—Americans still fill most positions. Immigrants tend to predominate only in the least attractive work imaginable—manual, back-breaking, seasonal, benefitless, farm labor.

Americans haven't grown too wealthy and snooty for the kind of work that gets your hands dirty, or for nursing, or for computer programming. Rather, the people who have the skills to enter those fields also have opportunities and skills to enter other fields. And so they have to decide whether the rewards—monetary and psychological—of the opportunity before them are worth it. It's not so much that Americans aren't willing to pick fruit and become computer programmers. Rather, they aren't willing to do those jobs for the prevailing wages and benefits. The Army may need foreign nationals to help fill its ranks, but the private security firms that pay six-figure salaries to ex-military types for security work don't. People without much in the way of skills or education probably prefer to take entry-level jobs at Wal-Mart rather than work at a meat-packing plant, even though it might pay a little less—it's less dangerous and disgusting.

The failure here isn't in the work ethic of Americans. Rather, it lies with the CEOs, business owners, university and hospital administrators, and government officials—and ultimately, with all of us who benefit from cheap labor—to offer the wages and benefits necessary to attract sufficient numbers of legal workers. There's a reason they call the labor market a market.

[Sanslines]

Dirty Work:

What are the jobs Americans won't do?

By Daniel Gross

The United States is a nation of hard workers. Compared with many other developed countries, the U.S. boasts high rates of labor-force participation and productivity and has a very low unemployment rate. Americans work longer hours than Europeans—1,804 hours per worker for the United States in 2005, compared to 1,434 in Germany and 1,535 in France, according to the OECD.

Yet it's increasingly common to hear politicians, CEOs, and immigration activists impugn American workers as a bunch of shiftless layabouts who regard many good jobs as beneath their dignity. That, they say, is why employers have to turn to immigrants—some of them legal, many of them illegal. To hear CEOs tell it, they'd much rather hire English-speaking, tax-paying U.S. citizens, people who won't disrupt operations by getting rounded up in Homeland Security sweeps. But they just can't find any Americans willing to do their jobs. As President Bush himself said last March, the United States needs a temporary guest-worker program that would "match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill jobs that Americans will not do."

What are these jobs that Americans will not do? Do they exist? Or are they a figment of the business community's imagination? It turns out that their claims are largely true—there are plenty of jobs Americans avoid. Let's take a tour of them. Americans shun pretty much any unskilled labor that requires them to get their hands dirty: landscaping, entry-level construction, picking fruits and vegetables (Reuters reports that "up to 70 percent of U.S. farm workers are estimated to be undocumented, totaling about 500,000 people"), cleaning hotel rooms, busing tables, and prep cooking in urban restaurants.

But the refusal to do jobs is moving up the value chain. American workers appear to be less interested in some kinds of factory jobs. The Washington Post, for example, recently reported that Georgia's carpet factories are increasingly dominated by Mexican immigrant workers.

Americans, it seems, are also less willing to take stressful jobs that require lots of training and long hours, and that require them to work in unpleasant environments. For example, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing is warning of a nursing shortage. This survey from the American Hospital Association says there are 118,000 nursing vacancies in the United States. Meanwhile, a 2003 report by the Council on Graduate Medical Education suggested there could be a shortage of anywhere from 65,000 to 150,000 doctors in 2020. (Given the time it takes to educate and train a physician, it's not too soon to worry.)

Spending your days tethered to a computer is also work that many Americans avoid. The Information Technology Association of America notes that 77 percent of companies it polled said there was a shortage of qualified IT talent in the United States. The solution: Import more geeks. The ITAA (and pretty much every technology company) supports boosting the number of H-1B visas above the current limit of 65,000 per fiscal year.

The more one looks, the more shortages of willing workers appear. Bryan Bender of the Boston Globe last month reported that the Pentagon is "considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks—including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to U.S. citizenship if they volunteer." Today, about 2 percent of the soldiers protecting America—about 30,000—aren't technically Americans. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported on a dire shortage of professors of accounting, finance, and management that may cause some schools to curtail course offerings. "AACSB International, the accrediting organization for business schools, estimates a shortage of 1,000 Ph.D.s in the U.S. this year that will grow to 2,400 by 2012." (Apparently, American citizens with Ph.D.s in accounting, finance, and management can get high-paying, satisfying jobs in the private sector. Who knew?)

For the industries involved, and for their customers—everyone from meat-eaters to hospital patients—these shortages are a real challenge. But when employers have difficulty filling jobs at the wages they wish to pay, and as a result seek foreign-born workers, they shouldn't blame it on a fundamental unwillingness of Americans to work in those industries or professions. After all, in many of these fields—construction, nursing, the military, teaching, accounting—Americans still fill most positions. Immigrants tend to predominate only in the least attractive work imaginable—manual, back-breaking, seasonal, benefitless, farm labor.

Americans haven't grown too wealthy and snooty for the kind of work that gets your hands dirty, or for nursing, or for computer programming. Rather, the people who have the skills to enter those fields also have opportunities and skills to enter other fields. And so they have to decide whether the rewards—monetary and psychological—of the opportunity before them are worth it. It's not so much that Americans aren't willing to pick fruit and become computer programmers. Rather, they aren't willing to do those jobs for the prevailing wages and benefits. The Army may need foreign nationals to help fill its ranks, but the private security firms that pay six-figure salaries to ex-military types for security work don't. People without much in the way of skills or education probably prefer to take entry-level jobs at Wal-Mart rather than work at a meat-packing plant, even though it might pay a little less—it's less dangerous and disgusting.

The failure here isn't in the work ethic of Americans. Rather, it lies with the CEOs, business owners, university and hospital administrators, and government officials—and ultimately, with all of us who benefit from cheap labor—to offer the wages and benefits necessary to attract sufficient numbers of legal workers. There's a reason they call the labor market a market.

[Sanslines]

The Unwilling Americans:

More jobs the native-born won't do.

By Daniel Gross

Last week, I wrote about the phenomenon of jobs Americans aren't willing to do. If companies can't hire the number of people they want to hire at the wages they want to pay, the reasoning goes, it must be because lazy, soft-handed Americans simply aren't willing to roll up their sleeves and do difficult jobs. Managing hedge funds and starring in reality TV shows? Absolutely. But, by this logic, not landscaping, picking fruits and vegetables, meat processing, manufacturing carpets, soldiering, or working in information technology.

In fact, the perceived shortages have less to do with a declining American work ethic and more to do with managerial stinginess. In many industries, employers—and, ultimately, their customers—simply aren't willing to pay the prices that legal American labor demands in exchange for performing the work—or for going through the expense and trouble of obtaining the skills and credentials necessary to ply certain trades. In today's Wall Street Journal, Evan Perez and Corey Dade offer support for this contention. Last September, a chicken-processing plant (one of those industries we're told Americans reject) in Stillmore, Ga., lost three-quarters of its work force after an immigration bust. In response, the company, Crider, "suddenly raised pay at the plant" by more than a dollar per hour and began offering better benefits: "free transportation from nearby towns and free rooms in a company-owned dormitory near to the plant." Miraculously, American workers materialized to accept the jobs.

Last week, we asked readers to send in other examples of jobs Americans apparently aren't willing to do. (At Slate, we're big believers in user-generated content, especially in holiday-shortened weeks.) More than one reader suggested that enforcing immigration laws is one job Americans are clearly unwilling to do. Another, noting David Beckham's latest career move, suggested playing soccer in Los Angeles.
We received anecdotal confirmation of the trends we cited. A Los Angeles-based hiring manager in the software business reported that he had plenty of high-paying technical jobs. "Every single candidate is either an Indian national or a recent Russian immigrant," he said. "There are no longer any American candidates for these jobs."

Thanks to our readers, we've also discovered some more jobs Americans apparently don't find attractive. A social worker for an agency in the San Jose, Calif., area that provides services to children and adults with mental retardation, autism, and cerebral palsy, reported that the region's group homes and intermediate-care facilities "are staffed almost exclusively by Filipinos." The same holds for many "special education teachers and school aides, nurses working with those with delays or the elderly, respite workers, day program staff." These jobs, like many of the other jobs Americans won't do, require a high degree of skill and dedication—and yet they don't pay particularly well.

Transportation is another area in which demographics, the desire to hold down costs, and rising demand are combining to create a "shortage." Two readers pointed me to a 2005 report released by the American Trucking Association and economic consulting firm Global Insight, which concludes that Americans' unwillingness to work as long-haul truckers could have dire consequences for the U.S. economy. As the press release notes, in 2005 the United States had a shortage of 20,000 truck drivers. Given economic growth and the graying of today's drivers, the industry will need 539,000 new drivers over the next decade. The study notes that if U.S. companies want to continue to enjoy cheap, reliable truck-based shipping, the industry will have to recruit more women and minorities, boost wages so that trucking pays more than construction, and address quality-of-life issues.

But that sort of thinking—raise wages to attract domestic workers into your field—is so last century. In today's flat world, employers can choose from a global labor pool, apparently even for driving big rigs down I-95. Meet Gagan Global, which trains Indian drivers in India to drive American trucks in America.

How do you say "10-4, good buddy" in Hindi?

[usmc1]

Out of the Marines a few years, working my way through college with a wife and three kids and drawing some V.A. pay-back benefits I took a job as an an early morning newspaper motor route carrier.

That is one job that this American will never, ever do again. NEVER! I'd sooner freeze to death in a packing box under a viaduct somewhere.

And screw anyone who doesn't like it!

[nudeM]

In my area, agriculture is the prime source of employment of jobs that 'Americans don't want to do'. Jobs include field labors (irragators, tractor drivers, seasonal crop pickers [lettuce, cauliflower, peaches, tomatos, etc.]), dairy workers (both cattle and goat [milkers, herdman, feeders]). These are the jobs that the normal American isn't interested at all. These jobs include housing with paid utilities, even more so now that the State has stepped in and enforced strict labor camp codes.

The labor camps were camps that were located on the farming sights. Those were the camps that went 'unnoticed' until someone 'reported' unhealthful living conditions, which should have been reported years ago. The housing at the dairies are in better shape and in more livable conditions. True, the dairy owner is tight, but is more willing to put money into the house to keep his workers around.

This is just an example of some of the jobs that are available in this area. Along the highways, we see prison inmates cutting weeds and picking up trash (tax dollars at work). Why can't we force able bodied (welfare dependent) workers to perform the same tasks, and pay them, while at the same time, reduce their food stamps or other entitlements?

They would be able to afford their own groceries and not rely only on Uncle Sam to support them, for the most part. At least they would earn a paycheck for work performed.

Sorry for heading off in the wrong direction, but I think the main reason Americans do't want to 'work' is the computer screen is so handy, it takes too much time to go to school to learn the true concepts of the workforce. We are indeed in another generation, a generation that is more computer literate, but less labor intolerant.

Like you stated, it's easier to go to Wal-Mart (ex.) to get an entry job that pays relatively well (as opposed to nothing), than to go to school to learn a trade, profession, etc. http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/smoking.gif

I think the two articles are good and hold alot of truth. However, there is one fact overlooked in these so-called "dirty" jobs and that is these jobs pay poorly and since people work more hours in this country, you have the boredom factor resulting from repetitive work. Unlike auto assembly workers who get big bucks for repetitive work, farm laborers endure not only repetition but the elements --- intense heat in summers; for nurses, another area that requires one-on-one direct care and dealing with messy human bodily fluids and excrements day in and day for the hours they work; IT jobs are highly repetitive especially if you are in data processing/gathering. When such jobs as these offer little reward or pay incentives, the human mind goes "dull" and for many people they want more than a mundane job of the same day after day after day.

I don't think it is because we don't want to get our hands dirty but what is the long term with such jobs? Would anyone here want to do these jobs for a long period of time?

Allie

[naturalmanwa]

There are many good comments above, and many reasons for not doing some jobs, many of them economic. Trade unions have been trying for many years to improve the lot of the worker and his/her family. As long as big money gets away with paying low wages no benefits, our economy suffers. The worker with a family cannot afford to buy the furniture and cars, etc. that put cash into the system. The middle class is disappearing as a result.

[smoothm]

Sure there are jobs some Americans won't do, but that doesn't mean all Americans won't. As was recnetly pointed out, there are a lot of jobs Americans won't do for the money they are paid on those jobs. If the illegals could, they would all work for others where they can earn minimum wages.

Funny how some of the arguments about what people will and won't do are so similiar as the reasoning to support slavery in the pre civil war south.

[DoctorSurferDude]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by smoothm:
Funny how some of the arguments about what people will and won't do are so similiar as the reasoning to support slavery in the pre civil war south. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Very similiar....and sometimes the way an entire group of people are thought of and spoken of reminds me of other shameful times in our nation's history.

[Sanslines]

From The Gagan Global Website:

Why is Truck Driver recruitment becoming so difficult?

The answer is simple. There are other jobs available for Truck Drivers. The cost of education has gone down and more and more people want to set aside driving to be a pleasure activity and not a full time job.

People have begun to feel the pinch of family. Long-haul truck drivers quit mainly because it is often weeks before they see their loved ones. The job becomes demanding on them.

The pay is great but the people are growing lesser and lesser fond of the money in driving trucks for a living.
“These drivers know they can walk out of here tomorrow and get a job with any number of carriers that are supplying the Wal-Marts and the Targets," Bob Farley, VP, Saratoga Transportation Inc.
Long haul truck drivers can't get every weekend off…

What is the sense in recruiting from abroad?

The answer again is simple. The recruits from abroad do not have their family in the US . They come to the US for the job and for the money. These recruits know that it would take them 8 to 10 years to make the money they make here in a year.

They do not want to hangout with friends or chill-out at home on weekends. They are in it for the money and will do it for the money.

Well-trained truck drivers are a scarcity – lets face it. Here in India , there is a training school that teaches drivers of container trucks, road trains and trailer trucks everything that is needed to be a good truck driver in the US . And the State Government of Andhra Pradesh recognizes this training school.
These drivers are taught everything, from road rules, machinery handling, handling the material they are transporting, especially hazardous materials and special commodities that require delicate or expert handling.
These drivers are ready for their CDL or Commercial Drivers License test when they land in the US and are ready to step into the American Trucks and hit the roads.
The drivers are trained in safety practices and even the language to help them communicate better and easily with the clients, as well as their colleagues at the base station.

How can you be sure the drivers are safe and trustworthy?

We follow a very stringent policy of hiring. Every detail in the candidate's profile is verified, cross verified, and again verified by a quasi government agency that we have a tie-up with.
The candidates are first pre-screened and sent to us after their background verification is done. At this stage, every detail from their HIV test, their references, their driving history, their criminal records and history of violations of any laws is given a thorough look through.

Even a single detail that a candidate fails on, results in a disqualification.
Once this is done, the training school further crosschecks the details before enrolling the candidate in the training school.

Once the details are crosschecked and the references interviewed, the candidate's profile is sent to the quasi government agency for approval. Here the verification process happens all over again.

This is done only to ensure that the candidate is not capable of anything that will jeopardize the business of our clients. We believe in the policy of “when in doubt, play safe!” If even doubt a candidate's suitability, we reject them outright.
There is no stone left unturned to make sure you get the best drivers for your trucks. Nothing less.

What is the sense in recruiting from abroad?

The truck drivers, once recruited, apply for a H2B Visa for entering the US . This Visa allows the recruits to work in the US for a period of 1 Year. This period is automatically extended to 2 Years. The conditions under which the recruits will work under the H2B Visa are:
• They are not eligible for a Green Card or Citizenship
• They are not permitted to work for any other employer, other than the one who sponsored the H2B Visa.
• Any violation of state or federal laws can result in their prosecution and subsequent deportation to their home nation.

The processing of Visa paperwork takes about 4 months to complete, during which the truck drivers are put through the training process. This ensures that by the time the recruits go in for their Interviews, they are completely trained and ready for work in the United States of America
Once the visa is granted, the recruits will have to go to the American Consulate to get their Visa Stamped. It is at this point of time that the final interview with the American Consul officials happens.
This is when the American Consulate will verify, whether the recruits are truck drivers, by checking their drivers license, their training certificate, their passports and any other verifications that they might want to perform at that point of time.
Once this is done, the recruits are ready for travel to the US , where they can appear for the CDL test and subsequently enter our clients' employ.