VIRGINIA BEACH
In mid-January, David Finwall took a whirlwind tour through Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine to find college students to work at the Oceanfront.
The human resources director knew he had plenty of "cool" attractions to offer them: the beautiful beach and ample sunshine, the vibrant nightlife and a prime East Coast location.
By the end of the two-week trip, he had hired about 250 foreign students to spend this summer working for Gold Key/PHR Hotels & Resorts, one of the city's largest hotel owners. Pursuing careers such as computer science and economics at home, they would come to Hampton Roads to cook food, carry luggage and clean toilets.
The students come to the United States on J-1 visas through the Exchange Visitor Program, which Congress created in 1961 to enhance cultural understanding between nations. In recent years, it has morphed into a major source of labor for many employers, particularly those in the hospitality industry.
Critics charge that the program has little oversight and contributes to illegal immigration.
Over the past 10 years, the number of students coming to the United States under the J-1 "summer work and travel" category has multiplied more than sixfold: from 22,635 exchange visitors in 1997 to 150,326 in 2007. Last year, 3,706 landed in Virginia Beach, according to the State Department, which administers the J-1 program.
Busch Gardens Europe, one of the region's first employers to embrace J-1, brought in 96 students to work for the Williamsburg amusement park in 1998. This year, it expects 663.
Gold Key - with seven beachfront hotels - also has grown more involved in the program, Finwall said. He took his first recruiting trip overseas to Thailand last fall, then Eastern Europe in January.
"We don't have people to do these jobs," Finwall said, citing low regional unemployment. "U.S. college students do not want to come and make beds and clean toilets for $7.75 an hour."
Dmytro Iershov said his friends at home in Ukraine might chide him for working as a housekeeper, but that doesn't matter to J-1 workers.
"Any job is good," he said.
Last month, he arrived in Virginia Beach for his second stint for Gold Key. The 20-year-old's passion is techno music, and he said he helps promote the genre in Ukraine and elsewhere.
He is serving tables this summer at Pi Pizzeria, hoping to memorize the long menu and earn enough in tips to visit New York, Miami and Detroit - key techno hubs. On Tuesday nights, he likes to hit Peabody's nightclub near the Oceanfront for the "Euro Explosion" with techno-spinning DJs.
This year, he's living with a few friends rather than packing into an apartment with a dozen students, which saved him money in 2007 but was so noisy it disrupted his limited sleep. He took a second job last summer to supplement his earnings as a serving assistant at Mahi Mah's restaurant at the Ramada on the Beach.
Most J-1 students seek second jobs to cover their program and travel costs. Such moonlighting is allowed by the program. Iershov spent nights cleaning restaurants for a janitorial service, earning $8 an hour and extending his workdays to 14 hours. That left little time for traveling.
"Last year, I made a mistake," he said, "because I found two jobs and didn't have time to do anything."
Employers like the J-1 because it has fewer restrictions than other foreign labor programs. There is no cap on the number of visas granted, and companies don't have to prove that they cannot find U.S. employees to fill their jobs.
The foreign students typically earn the same hourly wage as their U.S. colleagues - around $7 or $8 an hour for most of the jobs. Employers don't provide health insurance - nor Medicare or Social Security - for J-1 workers, which saves some money. They must adhere to minimum-wage and workplace safety laws.
The program does have a time limit. The summer work and travel visa allows students to come to the United States only during their summer break from school and stay only four months.
But foreign students are available year round, depending on when their break occurs. Europeans come during our summer, Asian students in the spring, and South American workers in late fall and winter.
U.S. college students often have tighter summer work windows, either finishing school in June or returning in August. Young Americans who might have taken these jobs in the past also have more options now for internships or white-collar positions in their fields of study, said William Mezger, an economist for the Virginia Employment Commission.
The Gourmet Gang has hired about a dozen J-1 workers for the past two years, said Mahi McCauley, area manager for the catering company and chain of local bistros. Many American job applicants, she said, dress unprofessionally, yawn through interviews or quit after a day or two of work.
The foreign students have a better attitude, McCauley said.
"They work very, very hard," she said. "And they are respectful."
Like most J-1 students, Oksana Dynka heard about working in the States from friends and classmates in Ukraine. An economics student at a polytechnic university, she said she wanted to meet Americans, make new friends and see the world while still single and unfettered.
She signed up for her visa at a Star Travel office and chose Virginia Beach from a list of locations and jobs on a Web site. Dynka met some of her Gold Key co-workers while waiting at a U.S. Consulate's office in Ukraine. During her interview there, she answered benign questions about her parents and what she ate for breakfast.
Last month, she and five other J-1s flew to New York and rode a bus the next day to the Greyhound station on Laskin Road. As they rolled their luggage down the street, a man offered them a place to live.
Dynka, 20, is working in the banquet area of Mahi Mah's. She isn't sure whether she'll give up her free time for a second job.
"Money isn't the most important thing for me," she said. "We come here for vacation."
The program is priced like a vacation, too. Dynka paid about $2,000 to cover her visa paperwork, travel arrangements and other fees. The travel agencies partner with one of 56 State Department-approved sponsors for the summer program.
Every J-1 visa holder needs a U.S. sponsor. Students typically pay $2,000 to $3,000 to their travel agency, which in turn pays the sponsor. Students pay sponsors more to be pre-placed with an employer.
Sponsors sell the students the health insurance they need to work. Employers pay the sponsors nothing, but sponsors rely on them to offer jobs that attract more students.
The nonprofit Council on International Educational Exchange is one of the largest sponsors, bringing in more than 30,000 students a year, said Phil Simon, the agency's vice president of employer relations.
In the summer work and travel program since 1969, the council sponsors students for many of the region's major employers, including Gold Key and Busch Gardens. It listed $23.5 million in revenues on its 2005 tax filing, the most recent available on the GuideStar database of nonprofit organizations.
Sponsors bear responsibility for the students while they're in the United States, including for their safety, their employment and their behavior, both on the job and off. But every year, Gold Key's Finwall said, he fields complaints from workers who have had no contact with their U.S. sponsor.
No sponsors have offices in Hampton Roads. The nonprofit council has field agents in several cities, the closest in Philadelphia, Simon said. The agency keeps in touch with students via e-mail and operates a 24-hour hot line to address workers' or employers' concerns.
Back home in Ukraine, Valeriya Peltek and Lyudmyla Dobrovolska study international relations. Dobrovolska, 22, speaks Arabic and Bulgarian, as well as Ukrainian and English.
In Virginia Beach, they're taking orders at the cash register and drive-through window at a McDonald's on Shore Drive and Great Neck Road. Dobrovolska spent last summer as a J-1 at an amusement park in Alabama and wanted a beach location this year. Peltek saw the program as a chance she wouldn't otherwise have to see the States.
"It wasn't my dream to work in McDonald's," Peltek, 19, said with a laugh. "But we knew. We knew what we were signing for."
The Ukrainian visitors didn't know they'd end up so far from the Oceanfront with nowhere to live. Housing is a problem for J-1 workers, particularly in resort areas with few affordable rentals.
Neither sponsors nor employers have an obligation to provide housing for the students. Janus International Hospitality Student Exchange, a J-1 sponsor based in Doswell, leased an old motel in Williamsburg to solve the housing issue for the workers it brings for several employers there.
When Dobrovolska and Peltek arrived in late April, they dropped their bags at a motel and went looking for the McDonald's. Wandering up to 77th Street, they asked directions from a local couple out for a stroll. Bill and Judy Marx took pity on the students, brought them into their North End home, ferried them around the region, and got them bikes to ride to work.
"It doesn't seem right to have all these people come in and not have a place for them," Judy Marx said.
Unhappy students may not change prearranged employment without their sponsor's permission. Some leave their jobs anyway, violating the visa terms.
If caught by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, those students could face immediate deportation and be denied future entry into this country.
That also goes for students who fail to return home after four months. Those who want to stay in the States are required to go home first and apply for a different visa, though some do hire lawyers while they're here to adjust their status.
In an October 2005 report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the State Department lacked sufficient oversight of the J-1 work and travel program and its participants. The GAO said the Department of Homeland Security had incomplete data but that, among the J-1 visa holders it tracked, it found that 24 percent might have stayed past their deadline.
J-1 students have remained in Hampton Roads after their visas expire. Some return legally under a different visa. Others have married, obtaining a "green card" to live and work as noncitizens. In April, federal authorities cracked down on marriages deemed fraudulent, charging 33 people, including some Eastern European students who came on J-1 visas and married Navy sailors.
"It isn't being used for its intended purpose," said Greg Schell, an attorney who specializes in other visas for the Migrant Farm Worker Justice Project in Lake Worth, Fla.
"It has become this labor program with no oversight," he said, citing its cultural intent. "There's nobody watching."
But employers increasingly champion J-1. And not just because they need to fill jobs, said Gold Key's Finwall.
During his January recruiting tour, Finwall said, a particular Ukrainian student's letter left an impression. The young man, studying economics and law, described how his "rich experience" in America would help him reach his ambitions.
"It's the passion for self-improvement. It's the positive desire for new experiences," Finwall said of the student.
"That kind of passion and that kind of personality, that's the kind of person I would hire any day."
Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com
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I see a point to many comments...
It's true that they are very diligent, respectful, and hard-working individuals who do the jobs asked of them, and often more, with no complaints. The same can be said of some American workers as well. The same goes for those who are disrespectful and lazy. As someone who used to work in the hospitality industry, I have personally seen both. In a supervisory position, I had my share of wonderful, pleasant, hard-working individuals working for me and I also had the spoiled, disrespectful, whiny, and lazy workers as well. I din't care where they were from so long as they did they job asked of them and were reliable and respectful. I'm sure you know who stayed and who went. There is no doubt that the program isn't perfect and the government needs to take steps to make sure that laws are being followed and that the students who come here to work are safe. Believe me, the ones who are willing to work the jobs, will get them. Too many times I have seen "requests" turn into "demands" from those who wish to be employed, especially in the hospitality industry, from "I can't work any nights or weekends," to "I need every (insert day[s]) off for (insert reason here)," and many others
I am all for foreign kids
I am all for foreign kids coming here to work AFTER the criteria is met with welfare/section 8/food stamp recipients are all working and supporting themselves from these same jobs available..All employers should have a list of these recipients to hire and if the recipients choose not to work..then they get off assistance..and only then can an employer hire foreigners.
Make it mandatory for these individuals to work if they want any more subsidies and help for their family..this would take a lot of burden off the american people somewhat in returning to the government our hard earned taxes..Just think, if we got all these people off their duff and up and working we might even have a tax break!
I also have NEVER understood how someone can be "disabled" due to severe back problems (78% disabilities claim this)but yet they still continue to have children..how can that be???
I worked with a couple
I worked with a couple Eastern European girls one summer at a local deli. They were the hardest workers I've ever seen. They were extremely friendly, polite, learned quickly, and were never afraid to try something they hadn't done before. They all sent most of their paychecks home to their families.
I can see why the manager hired them - they came to work on time and were always presentable. I've also had summer jobs working with American citizens and you can definitely see the difference in attitude. Minus the not having to pay SS, etc., I can understand the draw of hiring foreign summer workers.
Good Hard Workers..
..that, 3 years ago Gold Key/PHR Hotels & Resorts sub-let a house to through a so-called church representative. The woman assualted and stole the young girls passports as well as one of the young men. She was "extorting" money from them! They worked at Dairy Queen-calls to the owner, (a total of 11 phone calls) who is well known in VB politics were never returned. A trip to the 17th precinct and the passports were "suddenly" found. Good hard, and decent young people, working long hours. My concern is that they sometimes are abused-by the people who bring them over, and the people who provide housing for them. I make it a point to convey to these russian/ukraine students that even if they are working here, that there money is just that! There own! They do not have to kick back ANY money! Pilot..? Why don't you investigate how some of these kids are being extorted!
J-1 visa holders breaking the law ?
Laura said:
"I have never been aware of anyone trying to circumvent the US laws and become illegal."
The article said:
"In an October 2005 report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the State Department lacked sufficient oversight of the J-1 work and travel program and its participants. The GAO said the Department of Homeland Security had incomplete data but that, among the J-1 visa holders it tracked, it found that 24 percent might have stayed past their deadline."
Such a Myopic Point of View...
I worked 5 jobs when I was 18. I worked some of the most menial tasks you can imaging. Now I'm 35 with two degrees and certifications. But according to you I had no future because of some of the jobs I had. From stocking freezer shelves to being a part of a cleaning crew.
Two Jordianian friends of mine came to the US and cleaned horse stalls for 5 years. Until they had pooled and saved their money and had enough to open a Subway Franchise. Now they own 20 Subways in Northern VA. But they also had no future according to how you look at it...
For those of us that worked crap jobs with a smile on our faces we did it as a step towards our goals...
My father was 22 years in the Corps and one thing he taught me was if I wa providing for myself and my family there was no shame in what I did. There was nothing but honor. And that was from a CWO4 Ret, who just so happened had dropped out of High School. Now he has a PMP Cert and a Business Degree. Glad he didn't listen to you before he followed his path.
Hospitality/retail industry has no future growth?
My experience comes from the military where I too thought the kids of today were not up to the standards of my generation. However that was proven wrong by the effort of the young military members once we started bombing in Iraq. They stepped up to the plate and put in many extra hours, nobody claimed to be sick or tried to get out of working long hot hours on the flight deck. I didn’t think they had it in them. I was wrong. Today, I’m very impressed with the new generation.
Maybe in the hospitality/retail industry you can't find an American kid willing to take the low pay, low skill positions. Frankly I wouldn't work in that industry either... It's not about entitlements; it’s about growth, future potential and learning skills to be used in the next job for American kids. I wonder why anyone would clean a hotel room or mop up and make a hotel bed unless they had no future before them. I guess that is why you have to go overseas to hire. BTW: I’m not a country club member…
An interesting thing to think about...
If they're countries were giving them handouts do you think they would stay? I've known Filipinos that go to work in Bahrain, Iraq, Qutar and many other places to work for 7 to 10 bucks an hour because they can't get the handouts from home. Plus, they can't get a job at home. So they support their family by working 2 and 3 thousand miles away or more.
But here, we have an entitlement meantality that we feed our kids each day. One that says they deserve better, without having to work for it. So if it is spoon fed to them they'll take it. Sure, you have a good number of kids that want to work but I'm sorry, when I can go into a 7-11 and actually get a smile from the clerk from another country but then go to Taco Bell and have the person at the window from this country look at me as if I'm waisting their time there is something wrong.
Mr. Bailey I'd like to ask you
where you are getting your information? At a Country Club? My experiences in the hospitality/retail industry are very contrary to the the statements you make. The reality is that these foreign students wouldn't be in demand if the need was fulfilled elsewhere!
Why do we still need the "Kings Dominion Law"?
"The new law barred school boards from scheduling the first day of instruction before Labor Day. Virginia educators began to refer to this as the "Kings Dominion law," since its strongest backers were leaders of the hotel, recreation and resort industries who wanted families to vacation through August and early September. They also did not want to have their high school-age employers abandon them early."
Since these hotel, recreation and resort owners are now using foreign labor for the jobs that our students used to do, I suggest that they allow and even help lobby for the repeal of the "Kings Dominion Law" which forbids public schools from opening to students prior to Labor Day. They obviously no longer need our local children so let us get them into school in August as we used to do before these owners and operators got greedy.
the poor get poorer
Who really benefits from the system? This is what happens when the cost of housing (and the corresponding increase in assessments filling city coffers) continues to escalate at a significantly greater rate than incomes. When are businesses going to give employees the raise they need to afford housing in this area? The answer is, they’re not. They’re going to find ways such as the J-1 program or the light rail project to bring in cheaper sources of labor from OUT of the area. If you didn’t already own a home in the area before “the boom” you’re SOL. And most who did own their homes before the boom likely couldn’t afford to buy it now – or may be forced to sell because they can no longer afford the taxes. The only winners here are the business owners or the outsiders from the Northeast or Canada that want to buy property down here in markets that are more affordable FOR THEM.
American kids are wonderful too!
I have no problems with hiring from abroad. But frankly I’m disappointed in the comments of many of the posters who complain and berate the American children. They are not all bums!!! Most are great kids just trying to find their place in the world.
I ask you all to stop being so judgmental and lumping all of them into one lazy disrespectful category. I know you all were the only hard working young folks in America but this generation has many positive attributes. I’m very proud of my children who worked hard thru college including the summer months waiting or bussing tables in our local restaurants. Did they make errors? Yes but isn’t that part of growing up?
I’m sure your parents thought you all were the best, most motivated and hardest working young people. However if we really take the time to ask your parents, we’ll likely get a totally different story. Lay off the American kids as one day they will lead this nation and make us all very proud! Each generation has its own path and this bunch is no different than we were at that age.
The proof is in the results
Having first hand involvement with utilizing this work force I can categorically tell you the following: (1) These students are hard working, reliable, honest and dependable. Too bad that their US counterparts don't have these attributes. Our experience beforehand was full of job abandonment, rudeness and undependability.(2) I have never been aware of anyone trying to circumvent the US laws and become illegal. (There are probably more crossing the border from Mexico in one night than have ever in the history of the program broken laws!) (3) They are GREATFUL for the opportunity that is lacking in their homeland!
They fill a desperate need. I dare anyone to show me one young, USA student or young adult that has been denied employment because of these students!
annes77739 vs welfare
annes77739, good for you! I truly hope that the Disney experience helped you and your friends, because I can't imagine that this job was fun by any means. But we know, life is like that. We all have stinky jobs but we do what we have to do. Meanwhile, in response to those comments directed toward welfare recipients taking the jobs first, I totally agree too. However what about the children? Many of our welfare recipients have 3-4 children by the time they are 20 years old. If these mothers go to work, who will take care of the children? It's a no-win situation. Stop the babies from having babies, and then we might be able to address the welfare issue. BTW, when I was in college, I'd have killed for any job I could get. I didn't even care what it paid, but I guess 35 years ago, just like me, American teenagers had respect. The only job I could get was at Burger Chef, part time.
We are talkiing about the product
We are talking about the product of baby boomers. They have raised spoiled brats who want what they want when they want it, and their parents made sure they got it. What more can we expect of teenagers today?
What Is Wrong Below
1. Proficiency in English is a requirement for a J-1 visa.
2. If a particular school has a number overstay their visas, the State Department will start denying visas for students from that school.
I myself work in the service sector and the biggest problem we have with applicants is the hours they want to work. They want evenings and/or weekends off, so our own youth often aren't even seriously considered.
the rich get richer...
This is a perfect example of the abuse of local government and business owners that amounts to legalized human trafficking. Is it really that much different from the sweatshops we like to castigate in foreign countries? I worked those types of jobs in high school and college but at least I had the benefit of living at my parent’s, house covered by their health insurance – so employers don’t really have to pay that anyway for the majority of prospects in this age group. Is it really just about beating the Social Security and Medicare withholdings?
How many kids working at $7-8/hr. would it take to pay rent, utilities and transportation expenses within a reasonable commute (walk, bike, public transit) of the resort area and still be able to save some money for their four months of indentured servitude? Has city council or any of the business owners looked at those rents lately? Then you have the problem of those who sexually exploit these students – or who willingly exploit themselves in such a way. I can think of one case in point where an engagement ring has led to an “extended stay.” (Not that there is anything wrong with TRUE love being found)
Who really
Let the Foreign kids work
at least THEY want to work..too many of the local kids I see act like they can show up when they want, and do their best to avoid work all day. Don't dare ask them to help you find anything, or to actually DO their job-- they act as though business OWES them a paycheck. Local kids who really want to work and practice REAL customer service will still find jobs.
ZEE's comment
People like you are frightening. Realize that at some point all of our ancestors arrived here with an accent. If it had been for people like you, they wouldn't have made it. Unless you are Native American, you're an immigrant like the rest of us.
Foreign Students workers
Let us not be too harsh to our young people being lazy and materialistics. Don't blame them. Blame those who raised them and supplied them with materialistic items. I have two granddaughters, one is 17 and the other is 18 years old. My 17 year old is working at one department store at Pembroke and my 18 year old, home from college, working at one elite restaurant. The 18 year old is a working college student and attend classes at the same time. Therefore, don't generalize that young people are lazy.
Jamies
"is americans don't want any job!they just want all the materialistic things in there lives,be supported by the govnment, while people like my self work fifteen hour days just so we can make up the tax base to support the welfare and wic, social services,food stamps,social security, diability,soup kitchens,half way houses,drug rehab centers,prisons,free day care,blah, blah, blah"
You really shouldn't lump all of any group of people in one pile.
Make it work for High school students
One of the complaints listed is the problem with American school schedules. Set up a work-credit program for the students so that local kids have a fair shot at these jobs. The other aspect of this situation is that the minimum paid wage should be a living wage and not one where people have to take two jobs and work sixteen hours a day just to survive. The current system takes America back to the 18 and early 1900's where the employers could treat people as slave labor for pennies and fire them for the slightest offense. America, with the current labor system, is taking some mighty steps backward. Who can actually live on $8 an hour working eight hours a day in Virginia Beach? That is the base of the real problem.
No one local willing?
I moved here from the midwest three years ago at 32 and was unable find employment in my career-related field of work. I was more than happy to go down to the oceanfront to find what I expected to be low-paying work while my professional resumé got around. I knew I would find a job eventually, but figured I'd do something fun in the beach area in the meantime. The story I got every time—sarcastic comments from managers and employers about how I wasn't "Russian enough" for them. Sounds more like an exclusive racket than a "cultural understanding" program.
J-1 visas are a JOKE and lazy americans is just the excuse.
It infuriates me to hear companies with hiring practices like Gold Key. Bruce Thompson, PHR's president has enough money and is only getting richer. By hiring people like Gold Key does aloows people to enter the country on a visa and then "disappear" into our system. It is a HUGE portal for illegal immigrants since alot of them come here on visa's and dont leave when it expires. Why dont companies form co-op's with gov't agancies and get our welfare recipients OFF WELFARE AND BACK TO WORK like Slick Willy promised to do as "welfare reform". It's just another hypocrite program that Democrats make us workaholics pay and pay and pay for. The bottom line is business raise their price and hire cheap labor to broaden their profit margin and no other reason. If you put our lazy american welfare to work with the threat of losing benefits if they quick, they would likely work longer but our current system rewards laziness so me as a white man can be blamed for "holding a brotha down". I cannot understand the benefits of J-1 visas other than a becoming a future documentary for would-be terrorists on how to enter the U.S. under the radar just like cockpit doors did for hijackers. Americans ar
Hospitality jobs, work ethic
I was an intern for Disney, and as a college student who wanted something GOOD to put on my resume, this the perfect opportunity. What did I do? I was one of the people on the rides...what did my other friends do? They flipped burgers, picked up trash, cleaned up tourists' puke...of course this isn't what we put on our resumes. Instead, we mentioned the classes we took and what we learned while down there. I made minimum wage and lived in one of their apartments for $50/week. Sure, I realized that they were taking advantage of me, but I was willing to go through with it. It changed my life, and I have no regrets. I was down there about 10 years ago.
Sure, things could have changed, but I know that my generation got the same bad reputation as this generation, but as with my generation, the negative aspects are what are reported. The hard working ones are the ones who receive no mention at all. Don't think that some apathetic teenager who has too much is a representation of all youth. And don't think that Paris or Lindsay Lohan are representatives of youth, either. That's like saying that all old people are whiners and complainers who like to post negatively on the web and compl
america land of the lazy
well no kidding! who would ever think a govnment program is lacking oversight.no not our govnment they run a tight ship,books are always balanced,budgets never exceeded,etc.etc.,my personal opinion is if there illegal send them back,but deep inside i know all they want is a better life,well fine just do it leagally.and these are'nt jobs americans don't want,problem is americans don't want any job!they just want all the materialistic things in there lives,be supported by the govnment, while people like my self work fifteen hour days just so we can make up the tax base to support the welfare and wic, social services,food stamps,social security, diability,soup kitchens,half way houses,drug rehab centers,prisons,free day care,free health insurance to girls who are pregenant by the time there fifteen.and the list goes on.and you wonder why americans are so lazy.get rid of govnment entitlements and you have no chioce but to get a job.if not then you starve.have a nice day!
MAYBE AMERICAN STUDENTS CAN LEARN FROM THEM
Too many American students are too pampered and lazy to work. They are too busy trying to con their parents out of money for more bling and designer clothing, and how to get the next keg of beer.
Let the foreign students work. That way both the businesses and the foreign students benefit leaving the American students to continue their decline, as evidenced by their poor showing in math and science.
But, who knows? Perhaps the American students may even learn something for a change besides the latest shenanigans of Paris and Britney. They must might just learn that success comes with motivation and hard work.
The fact is...
The foreign workers come here and want to work. They don't complain about what they get paid to do a job because they're grateful for any job. They haven't been raised to be "above" work. And, while there are many local teenage workers who are willing to provide good customer service, others aren't. The foreigners are. And there are more consumers who would complain if they received substandard service. So the foreign workers meet our needs there.
And as for raising the pay of local workers so that they can afford to give those kids a 50 cent increase? Where do you draw the line? Your give Janie a raise, she tells Andy and everyone wants one or threatens to quit. And then Mommy and Daddy call and yell at the boss for not being "fair." And no offense, but those pay raises are gonna get slapped right back on the consumer in what we pay to enjoy our hotel stay/ice cream/whatever. It's like people who complain about tipping. If we don't tip, our meal prices will rise more than the tip adds to the check.
Self Esteem and Entitlement
Our college kids are filled to the gills with 12 years of public school enduced self esteem and entitlement. Parents unwilling to see their kids suffer when they don't get what they want. 24 hour TV programming of the rich and stupid getting everything they want in exchange for no real work. Most American kids wouldn't clean toilets for any amount of money. Our own 14yr old decided the drudgery of keeping our pool clean wasn't worth the $15 bucks a week I offered to pay. I don't know where he's going to get spending money this summer; guess he'll mooch off friends till they get sick of it. Our 16yr old works, cleaning toilets and tables for minimum wage; earning money to buy her first car. It was funny, though, watching all those "My Sweet 16" shows, she was sure we would present her with a car on her birthday. When it didn't appear, she realized we were serious about not buying one for her, and decided to get a job!
These J-1 kids paid thousands for the opportunity to work in America. They're polite, conscientious, and speak our language. I wish them great success!
Does it take a college student
to change sheets and clean toilets? Let's get real here, I'm willing to bet there are plenty of high school students who would do the job, but getting local college students might be a challenge. If these hotels would lower the standard for cleaning toiltes there would be no problem with the local job market.