Immigration

The discussions over minimum wages have come into conflict with Trumps new plan for immigration. The same groups that opposed immigration rules based on giving preference to those who can earn higher wages are the ones who want higher minimum wages. One thing that keeps wages low is allowing immigrants who have no earning skills to come into the country and one thing that raises wages is to invite immigrants who can earn higher wages. The same goes for speaking English. An immigrant that can speak English will have higher earning power. Several years ago I visited Thailand and while there I looked up jobs in the local paper and found that while the average wage was low, some jobs paid four times higher than average based on the applicant’s ability to speak English, so this is something that occurs in countries other than the US.