Local companies struggle to cope with shortage of seasonal labor

How many of those houses are

1. Structurally sound and not HUD wrecks (just glancing at the site I saw numerous properties being sold "as is" and through rehab loans)
2. In an area that doesnt require a bullet proof vest (I see about half of the properties are located in Portsmouth or Norfolk, and likely most are in such great areas as Huntersville, and Park Place, perfect places to raise a family). Even all the properties in Virginia Beach are concentrated around 1 or 2 terrible areas of the city (I saw about a dozen "condos" or "townhouses" available in the pristine neighborhood of Lake Edward)
3. Adequate size for an average family (80% of your properties are 1 or 2 bedroom condos, including almost ALL of the available properties in Va Beach)

So, 563 properties on the market in the COMPLETE area (including properties of inadequate size, poor condition, and in excessively bad areas). Thats enough housing for what, 2000 people, including kids? Wow, lets see, according to City-Data.com, Norfolk alone has 40,552 adults living in poverty as of 2006.

How can I affor it? I'm in debt up to my eyeballs!

Wow, I did not know that Democrats didn't work. Interesting. Also, I didn't realize that unemployment was "free money for the government", I seem to remember paying for it since I was 16. I am also amazed how illegal immigration comes into play on an issue regarding documented workers. I also didn't realize that every person recieving welfare was cut from the same cloth. Certainly there are people who take advantage of the system, but that is not just limited to the poor.

So, plain flat out capitalism has failed the greedy business owner (they havent raised their wages to a level high enough to attract adequate workers), we should force people to work for those substandard wages. I agree that people collecting government funds should be put to work, but on government projects. We should never force people to work for below market wages to subsidize greedy private business owners. Corporate welfare is already at rediculous levels. If they want workers, they should be forced to pay a market wage, not be assisted by the government to supply them with below market wage workers, be it forced internal labor, or immigrants.

Once they accept the job, no more unemployment benefits. If they deny the job, no more unemployment benefits. Either way, people get taken of the taxpayer funded welfare program and the employer gets labor force.

coolguy81 wrote:

This would mean that an average Hampton Roads family could afford a house between 150k-180k, depending on their credit. So, I ask you, how many homes in this price range exist at ALL in Hampton Roads.

563

158 Virginia Beach
129 Portsmouth
90 Chesapeake
146 Norfolk
40 Suffolk

PLENTY of housing for those willing to get it, no excuses.

Source: realtor.com

So aalto, you are clearly in favor for even more government subsidies for private enterprise? Clearly, we should all be ok with our tax dollars tagged for welfare going to supply local private enterprise with free labor, hell, thats even cheaper then importing cut rate labor from foreign countries! Id rather hand my tax dollars to someone sitting on their couch all day doing nothing then hand them to some greedy business owner who simply is looking to pocket more off the top.

Take a copy of the list of people currently receiving unemployment checks -- free money from the government. Let them see the list of available jobs and pick one. If they say no, cut off the benefits. Problem solved.

That's how the headline should read. If these local businesses paid anywhere near a decent wage, they'ed have all the help they needed. Write your elected officials, email, phone. Say no to seasonal workers, no immigration reform. Force these sweat shops to make better choices.

Affordable housing is defined as 30% of gross income. The average household income for this area is around 40k, and if you chopped Virginia Beach out, it would fall down around 30k. So, a little arm chair math, 30% of 40k, is 12,000 a year, or exactly 1,000 a month. This would mean that an average Hampton Roads family could afford a house between 150k-180k, depending on their credit. So, I ask you, how many homes in this price range exist at ALL in Hampton Roads. You can count properties at this value on one hand in Virginia Beach, and they are all townhouses in Lake Edward. If you want to live in an area that can be considered safe at all in this region, you will be paying far more then what is considered affordable. That isnt a "personal choice", that is a fact of reality.

America is in a credit crunch because we are greedy, wasteful, and have a ridiculous sense of entitlement. What did we do when times were good? Did we save for a rainy day? No! We overextended ourselves by buying bigger and bigger houses and used home equity as an ATM machines. Do we work our butts off to pay off our homes as quickly as possible? No. Do we have to have the latest and greatest electrical gadgets? Yes. Do we have to eat out several times a week? Yes. Do we have to have a wardrobe full of the latest and greatest clothes? Yes. So, let's get freaking real here. We did this to ourselves. We forgot how to be frugal and we forgot how to save.

Who are you referring to as "rich"? The United States has one of the largest disparities between wages in the industrialized modern world. In fact, you have to start looking at third world dictatorships to find similiar. Henry Ford was made famous for one thought of his, and that was to pay his workers enough to afford the product they produced. A strong middle class which can afford to purchase products is how to strengthen an economy. Most countries not called the United States of America, have figured that out. The reason the US is in a "credit" crisis is partially because the average working man can no longer find affordable housing. Because of the greed of the plutocratic oligarchy, the US is quickly erasing the "purchasing" class in favor of making a few more quick bucks at the top end of the income scale. This set up is not economically sustainable over many generations, and is already collapsing the US economy.

And you have just stated the reason the Ford plant went under.....despite the level of quality, they just could no longer afford to pay the outrageous wages and benefits demanded by assembly line workers....

That is the nature of full employment. The people that are unemployed are only that way because they won't take the jobs at their skill level. That means that the lowest skill level jobs really have no one available because they can't even over employ lower skilled people in they wanted.

some of you up here are very ignorant and rude.I am going to set the record straight for some of you who are constantly talking bad about people recieving assistance.I for one am a single mother of two, not because I was laying down popping out kids for fun whoever mentioned that. I was married and am now divorced. Secondly, I work 40 hours a week making 10.00 an hour. Which is barely enough to cover my 800+ rent every month.Yes, I do recieve food stamps and wic.I am grateful because if it wasn't for the little bit of food stamps I recieve or the wic, my infant daughter would not have formula nor would there be food in my house for us.Not everyone getting assistance is lazy.I don't have a big screen tv in my house, I do not drive a fancy car and whatever else was said about those "using" the system.If I choose to take my paycheck and by something nice for myself I have that right just because I am on food stamps doesn't mean I have to look jacked up.Ya'll are constantly complaining about immigrants but yet I bet the majority of you up here talking trash about them will not take your butts down to north carolina or the other companies and work for them. Ya'll are talking about those

I see this cry posted throughout this discussion. I once worked at the now closed Ford Norfolk Assembly Plant. People there were paid probably the highest salary for blue color workers ever to be paid in this area and yet I still witnessed workers who could care less and put more effort into getting out of work than working so the decent wage theory is bogus.
A valuable employee always is paid more and the more you have to offer usually determines what you will receive in compensation for services rendered. Pick crab meat, sweep up trash or machine stainless steel machine parts, which do you think pays more? Incentive to learn and move up the ladder?
A decent wage to live and support a family is something that should be contemplated before starting a family not after. Also in no way is it the rest of the hard working society's responsibility to take care of what you can not. If the taxes that support people who choose not to work were removed then the after tax wages of those who do work would be higher thus a better standard of living for the "WORKER".

"Who have you observed engaged in these activities, or is your perception based on nothing more than a couple of people you heard about?"

You could say I grew up in a less than perfect part of town. When we were in our late teens and into our twenties, several people had already mastered living off of public assistance. I knew perfectly able bodied men and women at a young age that had basically said no to working. One popular practice was to throw food stamp parties. I know, some of you are laughing. Here is the basic rundown on the festivity:

You cannot buy booze w/ foodstamps. So you go to the store and you buy large amounts of steak, hamburger(leanest, finest), and so on and have the guest bring the booze. The whole thing could make a fat man happy! It gets worse I swear. So yes, I have observed these lazy leaches. I cannot think of one who has ever succeeded in anything. The thought of living w/ no self respect makes me shudder.

I can't believe you people who think we should just give American people their wages just because. This sounds a lot like European socialism or communism. We must let everyone in so the business owners have a competetive labor pool to choose from. America is all about business owners. If they can get more for less, then they can compete. If there is a lot of labor our there, then other businesses will open making the competition better. Who benefits, we do. We get better product and service for less money. No one deserves anything, they must fight for it. I don't think its a crime for people to want to give us more for less. We need legal and illegal labor to preserve our standard of living. If I can pay my cleaning lady less that means I have more money for a sports car! This is America. America is about being competetive and about the fight to be the best for less. This is why we are rich, not because of some socialims protecting wages on low jobs. !!! Think people.

The landscaper in the story summed it up. She has tried unsuccessfully to hire local workers referred to her by the employment commission. She sent them certified letters guaranteeing them jobs, but no one responded. Apparently the local workers are too lazy to do hard manual labor. Since the referrals are coming from the employment commission, I bet at least some of them are on public assistance. Take the choice away; if the employment commission has jobs for them, cut out their free ride at taxpayer expense and make them go to work. My first jobs involved hard manual labor like landscaping and unloading trucks. Americans have gotten soft and lazy, and our government is subsidizing it.

There are plenty of well able bodies on welfare who should be able to fill these job. Cut the welfare checks in half, stop giving away money to people who end up just walking down the streets and talking with neighbors all day long. I recently drove thru downtown newport news last thursday. It looked like a Saturday or Sunday afternoon!! It did not look like anybody worked, everyone was home or out in the streets!

The issue is how much would be required by the American students in exchange for the job they are doing. The business owners would rather not pay that wage, and instead have been running their operations dependent on labor that will accept a fraction of the wage it would cost to hire an American college student. When you remove that, all the sudden they are crying about having to "shut down". In reality, the only likely scenario would be that theyd have to go on one less Carribean vacation this year. You post a sign up saying "crab processors needed, $20 an hour" you will have a line around the building. Im so sorry people have a problem working a dangerous, taxing, gross job, for $5.85 an hour and no benefits. The solution is not to import cheap labor, the solution is to raise your wages closer to a living wage.

When I was young, teenagers did most of the seasonal jobs. It seems now we have "child labor" laws that have gone too far. I worked at a couple of different restaurants during the summer in my college years and in high school. There were several guys that worked everything from cutting grass to roofing. It seems now, people want to pay some guy that owns a fleet of lawn tractors and large trucks and trailers some outrageous price to cut grass instead of hiring the neighborhood kid for a third of the cost. "Some may try to hire the hundreds of foreign students who come to the Outer Banks each summer, many from Russia and Eastern Europe", rather than hiring forgein students, why not hire American students? You can't tell me that U.S. College students aren't putting in for the same jobs. As far as the seafood goes, maybe if the processing plants were shut down for a couple of seasons, the crab population will increase and that will make it easier for those of us that catch our own. We're not doing our high school and college students right by hiring foreign students or immigrants to do the jobs our U.S. citizens can do. That'll help keep them off the streets and out of gangs also.

Stop ranting, I'm really not that concerned. I just wanted to point out your ignorance, but you do that all by yourself.

CH says:Your reality is based on your perception

Good grief, you really live in la la land don't you? I mean if one is caught red handed you still have an excuse for them? Good grief...I am so glad that you belong to another for you have NO clue of how life really is if you believe the system is not broke..

Take off your rose colored glasses, smell the flowers...but then, they are probably just plastic in your realty, aren't they, cause it's just a perception one has..that flowers should smell a certain way, even if they are plastic...

I perceived that I truly saw many using the food stamp card on the first through the fifth of every month ..for items that were unnecessary to ones survival..but then again..that was my perception of the purchase I saw them pay red handed too!..

You really are too funny...how long have you been on the dole???

Standing in line at a grocery store is your evidence. Wow. Your reality is based on your perception but you don't have the ability to be everywhere and perceive everything, so your perception is very limited. Stop being so naive. You can stand in line and hear people talking about their dogs-that doesn't mean most people own dogs. You can hear them talking about how annoying their children are-that doesn't mean most people are annoyed by their children. Just because you see something doesn't mean it's the norm. Children are afraid of the Boogie Man because that's what they see and hear. They idolize Santa Claus because that's what they see and hear. You should be mature enough to know that everything you see isn't reality and there is a world that exists beyond your perception. It's like calling all police officers bad because we've heard of a few corrupted ones. Most, however, are here to protect and serve us. A few bad doesn't translate to the majority, neither does your narrow perception.

CH Says: Find out who the majority of them are, I bet it'll surprise you

It sure does! When I go to the grocery stores and see so MANY paying with food stamp cards many expensive things even I wouldn't buy (crablegs, shrimp etc) unless it was a special occassion..then you see the same buying beer and alchohol and cigarettes with cash right behind it...cause these things can't be used with your food stamp card..now where did they get this cash since they didn't work?..

Yup you guessed it, from the person on the other end of the cell phone they have in their ear ..that is also living off the government free and clear with that leaving their paycheck to buy new cars and such cause the government already covers the food/housing/ clothing allowances of the mate..and of course, I forgot the babies...because marriage costs too much in the freebies to have to give up..

Stand in line at any Walmart, grocery store, clothing store..and watch who buys what ...yes that is MY dime they are spending..

Pay a decent wage and hire Americans! I know plenty of people who are more than willing to work hard. Laborers are not hard to find. However, when you are giving people work that takes a serious physical toll, and especially not providing medical coverage, you have to pay them enough to make it worthwhile.

That there are at least some contractors out there who are wondering where this hardware store is, & if any of those "temporary laborers" are in possession of a "green card"........

I know several small business owners who are more than willing to pay fair wages for hard work, but it's all but impossible to find native-born Americans willing to work a tough job where you might sweat a bit or come home sore some evenings.

They're happy to pay ten or twelve dollars an hour, but we Americans are turning into primadonnas who don't like manual labor. The legal Mexicans they bring into the country work hard, obey the law and pay taxes. I'm told they're the hardest working, most trustworthy employees they've ever had.

This country was built on people who immigrated here and worked hard to make it. If the children of those European immigrants have turned fat and lazy, we can't blame the new wave of immigrants who aren't.

Try paying decent wages and offering decent working conditions.