I was laughing because the person I quoted said that businesses do not hire illegals because they are required to verify if someone is legal. And it is very common for businesses to hire illegals. You are living in a dream world if you don't realize that this is happening. Where do you think all of these illegals are working? There is also a huge business of illegals buying stolen identities. And you blaming the consumers is like victim blaming. So it is the consumer's fault that a business does not want to pay a decent wage, right. And how do you know that local places pay any more? Wages are set by local economy. The only way that there is going to be any kind of balance is if they put a salary percentage cap on greedy CEOs and Board Members/stockholders. Most of these companies have more then enough money to pay employees more, but it would come out of their pockets and they rather keep their millions/billions that they could not spend in 10 lifetimes then to share it among their employees.
My entire adult working career has been spent providing consulting services to hundreds of small/medium businesses, mostly in the Los Angeles area — home to more than half the people in the country who claim Mexican heritage; every client I’ve ever worked with regularly quizzes me on how to protect itself from illegals, given the severe penalties. Where’s your knowledge come from? CNN, Fox News or some other bias source?
Fact is, as I mentioned earlier, most illegals earn their income from individuals (as nannies, or landscapers, or handyman, or cleaners, etc.) - NOT legit businesses.
And yes, consumers are to blame for the low wage environment we live in. Businesses seek to maximum profits, which is achieved by maximizing revenues and limiting expenses. Labor is an expense, and every business I’ve ever worked with has inquired on how it can minimize it’s labor costs.
The largest growing brick & motor retail segment over the past decade has been discount stores, espeically dollar stores. Walmart sells a 24-pack of generic Swifter wet clothes for $7; Dollar Tree sells a 10-pack for $1. The product is produced by the same manufacturer (they were a competitor of my client). Obviously, Dollar Tree will have a much smaller profit margin than Walmart. Do you know how they make it up? Cheap labor.