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An average household currently spends about $370 per year on fruits and vegetables. If curtailing illegal alien agricultural labor caused tighter labor conditions and a 40 percent increase in wages, the increased cost to the American family would be $9 a year, or about 2.4 cents per day. Yet for the farm laborer, the change would mean an increase in earnings from $8,800 to $12,350 for each 1,000 hours of work (25 weeks if the worker worked 40-hour weeks). That increase would move the worker from beneath the federal poverty line to above it. According to Dr. Martin, "…consumers who pay $1 for a pound of apples, or $1 for a head of lettuce, are giving 16 to 19 cents to the farmer and 5 to 6 cents to the farm worker." 3 Therefore, a 40 percent increase in the 5 to 6 cents a pound that the farm worker receives would amount to an increase of about 2 cents per pound that would probably be passed on to the consumer. (Martin, Philip, PhD., Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California-Davis, "How we Eat: 2004," Rural Migration News Vol. 13 No. 4, January 2006.)
Let's use Los Angeles as an example. A new "living wage" law just took effect there, setting housekeeping wages at $10.64 per hour if there are no benefits. That comes out to $85.12 per shift before taxes. At the LAX Hilton a housekeeper is expected to clean sixteen rooms per eight hour shift (2007 figure). That means the hotel pays her $5.32 per room. If Hilton increased housekeeping wages by 50%, to $15.96 per hour ($127.68 per shift) it would cost $7.98 to clean each room, or $2.66 more. That cost can be passed on to the hotel guest. The cheapest unrestricted room rate (as of March, 2008) is $239 a day. The extra cost of the wage increase to the guest is 1.1%. | |