Topic: Economics
The Problem with The American Work Ethic A look at the American Work Ethic as it compares to the Immigrants Work Ethic and why Americans should think like immigrants.by Lord Neuf
(centrist conservative libertarian)
Monday, February 2, 2009
As the American Economy starts to slow down, major corporations have started to downsize while others have gone out of business. There are lean times ahead. But instead of trying to get back on our collective feet, Americans have left it up to the government to give a hand out to major businesses in hopes that the money will trickle down towards them. The only trouble is that the American worker is becoming more complacent while immigrants are ready and willing to do much harder work and take less of a handout.
Immigrants who come to this nation to tend do the jobs no one will do. They tend to come from places where starvation is a possible outcome for being lazy. There is no welfare safety net for someone sick, unable or unwilling to work. They either do what needs to be done to support themselves and support their families, or they die. It’s as simple as that. When those kinds of workers immigrate to America, they bring that work ethic with them.
I once worked at a newspaper distribution center; my job was to offload trucks and hand out newspapers. It was hard work, but it was honest work . Something I could do at night while going to college. While I was there, I met a lot of immigrant workers. I would estimate that 85 to 90 percent of the employees there were from another country, places like Brazil, Haiti, Cambodia and Kenya. They were both young and old workers, all immigrants and children of immigrants. Sometimes an entire adult family would come in and do several paper routes and put all the money to their household.
Many of these workers had second or third jobs, and did this tedious late night work for an extra hundred dollars a week. Then after they would finish their paper routes they would go wash dishes or work at a fast food restaurant or have another 8 hour shift mowing lawns or collecting garbage. These were people who never complained about how boring the job was, or how unrewarding it was. They would only be concerned with getting their fair share of pay for their hard work.
Of the Americans who worked that job, none of them were happy with their station in life, many of them were above the age of 65, they had no option to quit and they had to do the job. They hated that job, they hated the long hours and they hated the boss. They would dream of the day that they would no longer have to do this job and actually retire. The American workers also had second jobs, like the immigrants in the building, but they never came to work with a smile on their face and never appreciated the employment. When talks of cutbacks in the company went down the grapevine, the immigrants feared not being able to work, while the Americans casually joked about qualifying for unemployment benefits so they could finally retire.
As for me, I just did it because I was in college. Having a midnight to 7am job was just what I needed to get 250 dollars, after taxes, every week. I didn’t save this money. This was my disposable income, relying on student loans to pay for each semester of classes.
After two years of working there, I quit. I was going to make more money as a bartender in a fancy hotel and restaurant, so I gave notice and moved to the next job. Not surprisingly, the staff of this restaurant was also mainly immigrants. In fact the dishwasher there was one of the guys who did the paper route as well.
While at these two jobs I learned something. Most Americans don’t do jobs like that, it’s beneath them. If they do, they are like me, doing it for extra money as they wait for their high paying job to come rolling around the corner and if not, they just move into their parent’s basement and try to maintain their social life. Or worse, they start meddling in criminal activities, trying to get spending money from the lucrative marijuana market.
These Americans never faced the fact that if they didn’t work, they would starve. That is incomprehensible to Americans. Americans have the failure option, they have the safety nets and they are complacent with that.
Their work ethic is produced by the culture of "If I fall down, someone will pick me up." The economic bailout package going through congress is a perfect example of this. The government is spending close to a trillion dollars to pick up other people, to fix others mistakes and to allow them to fail without repercussions. The welfare state of the nation is what is killing the American worker.
The immigrant work ethic is "Move with a purpose or starve to death." Failure is not an option. They keep their pride by working hard and do not want to be lazy, complacent or entitled. They want to build up their household for the next generation, so the next generation won’t have to put newspapers in mailboxes or wash dishes or be forced to mow lawns all summer.
With so many jobs being lost, Americans need to learn the lesson of the Immigrant Work Ethic. Or better yet, learn their work ethic from their grandparents and great grandparents who came to this country as immigrants themselves. Or else, the next generation will have cradle to grave welfare and never know what it is to work for a living.
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The views expressed in this
article are those of Lord Neuf only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Lord Neuf is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
If you spend any time in the real world, you will just how lousy the American work ethic is. At the same time, most employers, managers, and supervisors really don't care about the work ethic of the people whom they are in charge of. I work in high-tech where promotions and advancement are almost solely based on how much one "plays the game." Unfortunately, you get ahead nowadays by schmoozing, sucking up, and playing politics. It should come as no surprise that the American work ethic has suffered. I wish it wasn't this way.
Although your view of their work ethic is right, you also fail to mention those who are illegals using our socialistic system for their health care, and education without paying into the system like the rest of us are forced to. This of course is not the illegal immigrant's fault. It is the fault of the taxation and income redistribution of our welfare state. I employ illegals all the time and pay them in cash. They charge cheaper rates, do a better job and rarely complain. If the governemnt stops the income tax and the social and corporate welfare, then we can compete with them.
On a separate note: as much as Americans dislike illegal immigration, the trend is starting to reverse because of our economic issues. So a lot of immigrants (legal and illegals) are returning to their countries because they are also beginning to starve here. If they can't find a job, they would rather go back to where they came from and starve there.
Therefore, it is much better to have the issue of illegals comming here to work than to have them leave because there is no more work. When we see the illegals marching back, we as a Nation are in DEEP trouble!!!
I know your feeling. In the Corporate World the sucking-up ass-kissing game is pathetic. You are right. Work ethics has nothing to do with advancements and promotions. So the best solution to that is to become an entrepreneur yourself. It is harder, more difficult, full of risks, you could lose money, and you need a much better work ethic and discipline. But, you could be building business wealth and not be at the mercy of sucking up to one boss where your work ethic has nothing to do with your salary or promotions. In your business, your income will depend on your own work ethic and success (plus a little bit of luck).
I no longer have that employee feeling and I am currently working on my business in a tough economy. But I am making it happen and although my income is not the same as it used to be when I was employed, the freedom of not being stuck to playing politics with an idiot boss is priceless.
Your argument on illegal immigrants coming to this country to abuse the social welfare system is a weak one.
The whole premise of the column is that Americans in general have a bad work ethic and that they are the majority of the social welfare abusers.
You also mention in your column that you hire illegals because they will do more work for less money. I assume that you offer the same pay rate to your legal employees, immigrant or otherwise. If not, you should.
However I've done odd jobs and ditch digging work for little pay, if only to make some extra cash. I never considered it below me to do such things. I always try to make my own money instead of relying on the charity of other people.
Besides, for every illegal you can find taking advantage of the system, I'm sure I can find 6 or 7 Americans doing the same thing.
I would like to add that there are companies where one's productivity does matter. I have worked in a few of them. It makes little difference if you work in the public or the private sector. It largely depends on the ethics of your manager or supervisor.
One thing we have in this country today is a wholesale failure of leadership on almost all levels. This also applies to business "leaders" like Bill Gates and Michael Dell.
I was once on a private-sector job in which I asked: "What do I do know?" The response I got was: "twiddle your thumbs." I spent about 35 hours per week surfing the web there for $23 per hour. This company also had no unions. I wasn't proud of this, and I just looked for my next job.
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2009-02-04 16:20:52
Whew, I'm certainly glad I don't have the American work ethic.
Mine is simple. Have fun. Find something you're good at and enjoy doing eventually. Along the way, even when you're doing back-breaking labor or mind-numbing piece work, and I've done a lot of both, find a way to be just a little better at what you are doing than others. You may not be the best at it but you may be the best who is happy and having fun. In no time you'll be off to something else while those you bested find someone else to blame for their relative unhappiness or boredom.
The there are only two things to be aware of in the process. Some of those who notice you are a little bit better will hate you do not underestimate the lengths some people will go to to exert control over someone they think is better than them. Some of those who are a little bit better than you are at whatever it is you are doing, seldom even see you coming. This is because they have bought into their own baloney and think that because they are good at something they are BETTER than others. Some of those who are obviously much better at what you do will see you coming and offer to help you. Find a mentor and have fun.
It works for me.
-Jahfre Fire Eater
Armed with that knowledge anyone can define and pursue their own American Dream.
Mr Lord, actually, having worked around the world, I think the American work ethic to be among the highest in the world. Now, the job class that you are talking about is of course, very low value added, thus, the educational background and skill level will be low, even could be replaced by robots and machines. Those are not representative of american jobs as a whole, nor are they even near the majority of jobs in America. American high tech and services have an unequaled work force of people who sacrificed to learn new skills, pay for their college to get a degree and work very hard, with excellent service and quality. Americans, for the most part, are careful and dedicated workers. Try working in Mexico, Brazil, Eastern Europe, much of Asia, not to speak of Africa, or the cushy countries of Western Europe. Terrible quality, terrible service, just as a whole, including their service sectors, the worst work ethics you could ever imagine compared to the USA. I'm not talking about visitng a country for a week and comparing work ethics, I've worked around the world, for 13 years, and have grown to appreciate just how superior our work force is. It's another reason why American management and technical staff are the largest educated work force sought after by American companies abroad, as well as foreign companies.
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