Migrant pay

The claim that immigrants lower wages is often challenged but there is evidence to support that claim. It is said that Americans will not do the jobs that migrants do, things like picking farm crops as if that were beneath them but in fact it is because the pay is too low. If crop pickers got $45 per hour many Americans would take these jobs, so in fact migrants do keep wages down. The minimum wage for farm workers in California is $15 per hour and that allows American consumers to have cheap food but some say this is at the expense of cheap labor. Bending over all day in the hot sun for $15 per hour could be called by many, slave labor. The average cost for farm produce is $3 per pound and $1 is for labor. If wages increased from $15 per hour to $45 per hour the cost of farm produce would increase from $3 per pound to $5 per pound. The average family spent $7,000 for food last year and 15% or $1,050 was for produce. That would increase to $1,750 if farm labor were $45 per hour. The average American would have to pay $700 per year or $14 per week more to pay these workers a living wage of $45 per hour. Low income people do not consume a lot of produce so the bulk of this increase would fall on middle and upper income people. Most people in this group will spend that much for coffee. The average American spends $1,100 per year at Starbucks.