Just an observation from our travels in The Mitten:<\/p>\n
At a Kohl\u2019s, at Noodles & Company, at Subway, at Meijer, what\u2019s striking is this: \u00a0the labor force is native-born American \u2014 which is not at all the case in the Chicago area, where the retail and fast food workforce is largely immigrant. \u00a0Not necessarily illegal-immigrant-with-false-ID, but immigrant nonetheless. \u00a0Lots of Indians at JC Penny. \u00a0Eastern Europeans at Kohls. \u00a0And mainly Hispanics at McDonalds. <\/p>\n
In Detroit, or, rather, the Detroit area, not so much. \u00a0Sure, of course, it\u2019s not all-white; Meijer, in particular, is, I think, on the bus line, and has a fair number of, let\u2019s say, Store Associates of Color, but not immigrants. \u00a0And, notably, not teenagers, either, even though, of course, our travels were on days when teens would have been out of school. \u00a0In general, the workforce was more middle-aged, or even older, and the woman who took our order at Noodles & Company seemed like she could have been working to supplement her pension. <\/p>\n
What\u2019s the pay? \u00a0No idea. \u00a0Is it enough to support an adult, or a family of modest size? \u00a0Are these companies cultivating a full-time, long-term workforce, and valuing English-proficiency and general work skills, over the cheapness and flexibility of the desperate? \u00a0I know (from personal experience \u2014 it was my summer job once in college) that the area Meijer is unionized (didn\u2019t do me any good, and the union dues deduction from my already-small paycheck was irritating), though still with a two-tier workforce in which, in order to get benefits, you had do be hired in as \u201cfull time\u201d (which meant more than being hired to work 40 hours\/week). <\/p>\n
Or is this a matter of the economy in the Detroit area being poor enough, compared to Chicago, that there are enough native-born workers willing to take these jobs, even at minimum wage, so that immigrants with heavy accents, difficulty with comprehension, and questionable legality (that is, a negative if it brings a risk of losing your workers to unexpected enforcement, even if it\u2019s a plus to the extent that those workers accept being cheated) are a distant second choice? <\/p>\n
Is it that, simply, there are not as many immigrants in Detroit? \u2014 which, of course, is a chicken-and-egg sort of thing, because, of course, one reason for that could just as easily be that the economy isn\u2019t a draw in the first place.<\/p>\n
Is there some ethical element here? \u00a0Michigan is very pro-union, and anti-import. \u00a0(The number you\u2019ll read is that 9 out of 10 cars are U.S.-made, with some dispute about whether this is loyalty to the Big 3 or the practical, everyone has an employee-discount of their own, or in their extended family.) \u00a0Does a \u201cbuy American\u201d ethic extend to a greater distaste of illegal immigration, rather than a \u201cdon\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u201d attitude when it comes to housecleaning and yard-mowing services? \u00a0(About these, I have no idea.)<\/p>\n
Or is my anecdotal evidence, in the end, too weak? \u00a0\u2014 because, of course, you\u2019ll note that I haven\u2019t done any actual research, just wanting to write something up before heading back to the family hanging out in front of the TV, watching the Pumpkin Chunkin \u201cSuperchunk\u201d (the substitute for the actual competition, cancelled this year). <\/p>\n
As usual: \u00a0what do you think?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just an observation from our travels in The Mitten: At a Kohl\u2019s, at Noodles & Company, at Subway, at Meijer, what\u2019s striking is this: \u00a0the labor force is native-born American \u2014 which is not at all the case in the Chicago area, where the retail and fast food workforce is largely immigrant. \u00a0Not necessarily illegal-immigrant-with-false-ID, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9,46],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-detroit","tag-immigration"],"yoast_head":"\n