Gilbert Engel – Letter to Editor

Dear Editor:

Is there really a labor shortage? It seems to me that immigrants have been a significant part of our labor force particularly in jobs that require significant physical skills, capability and endurance such as farm labor, mining, construction, and many other physically taxing jobs. The difference now is that the majority of people available are not Europeans. They are Central and South Americans. The vast majority of these people are at our southern border at this time as oppose to Ellis Island 100 years ago. The second point is the younger generation is significantly proportionally small as a percentage of the population and significantly unfit physically and psychologically to handle hard sustained physically demanding jobs requiring long commitments. In the past, we have always found way to meet our labor needs by offering opportunity. Now we seem more concerned that the cultures they bring and ethnicity they represent are threats. It seems to me, we can learn from our history that tried to suppressed women, keep black people and other people of color a subeconomic and social class, relegate native American to reservation and in many cases poverty, and Asian in some cases to a foreigner status. We can and should recognize the immense benefit of welcoming people at our borders for their ability to contribute as   has been shown in are history. The labor shortage may well be of our own making.

Gilbert Engel