Low-wage, work-intensive jobs hard to fill

By Michael L. Diamond
Asbury Park Press

Adrian Stevens, who co-owns four restaurants in New Jersey, has a number of job openings that only require employees to work hard.

Heather Seymour, left, is assistant manager and Kyle Dean shift supervisor at Auntie Anne's in Eatontown, N.J. Seymour, a student at Rutgers University, says the reward for being on your feet for long hours near hot stoves making pretzels is the paycheck she gets at the end of every week. Gannett News Service

Even when he advertises at the unemployment office, he gets little interest, leaving him to hire immigrant workers and question the work ethic of Americans.

"That culture has permeated the (American) workforce: 'I want to make the big bucks and be the boss without doing the work,'" Stevens said. "It's instant gratification and all that."

Employers and the government are resigned to an economic trend: there seems to be certain low-wage, manual jobs that most American workers won't do. Some observers like Stevens say it is a sign that Americans don't want to get their hands dirty. Others say Americans would gladly do the work if the pay was enough to cover the bills.

Either way, it's an issue that is driving public policy. President Bush recently proposed immigration reform that would give short-term amnesty to illegal workers who are filling undesirable jobs.

It's not that Americans can't be found; the unemployment rate is 5.6 percent nationwide. Which raises a question: For a country that values hard work, why won't Americans take these jobs?

Americans traditionally have left some of the most undesirable tasks to immigrants, while they looked for more lucrative positions where their skills were in demand even if one of the skills was nothing more than the ability to speak English fluently.

Immigrants today hold 20 percent of the nation's low-wage jobs, even though they comprise 11 percent of the population, according to a study by the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C., research organization.

Michael Fix, director of immigration there, said 44 percent of immigrant workers are limited in their English proficiency, compared with 1 percent of American workers, giving American workers the first crack at higher-paying jobs.

"It's the story of world migration," Fix said.

When asked about the state of hard work, workers, employers and experts had a variety of opinions that boiled down to a simple answer: When it comes to labor-intensive, low-paying work, Americans have other choices.

Among the factors at work:

• The jobs don't pay enough. Some say it isn't hard work that Americans avoid; it's low pay. And it's those jobs that employers have trouble filling.

For Wayne Lewis, 27, of Aberdeen, N.J., the price was good enough. Lewis delivers products for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of New York, and he said the work can be strenuous. But he keeps going back each day because the company takes care of him; workers there make from $13 to $20 an hour.

"The pay rate is good, the benefits are good," Lewis said. "Actually, that's No. 1. The benefits."

• Laziness. Stevens still believes that American culture encourages instant gratification: High-school students can start their own Internet businesses from home. Twentysomethings become millionaires by winning a contest on a television show.

• Upward mobility. Most Americans believe that each generation expects to do better than the previous one. And the concept is clearly part of workers' mindsets.

At Auntie Anne's in the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, N.J., employees are on their feet for hours, working near hot ovens to make pretzels. Heather Seymour, 20, of Freehold, N.J., is an economics major at Rutgers University who has been working at Auntie Anne's for four years.

She said she doesn't like how grimy she feels at the end of the day, but the company has been loyal to her. And she uses the money to pay for her car and to shop.

"I come to work on time. I don't call out," Seymour said. "The check is your reward at the end of the week."