It'll be interesting to see what all of the hard-working illegal aliens are going to be doing in the coming years as droids move into the fields. Systems exist now that can determine ripeness of strawberries, peppers, and other fruits and vegetables - and harvest them without damaging them.
Whereas at the start of the twentieth century over half of the American population worked in agriculture, that number today is down to 2%, and more automation is on the way. The tired Lefty bromide routinely trotted out over the years in defense of illegal aliens, "Who's going to pick your lettuce?", is on its way to extinction.
Increasingly, the answer is that machines will; safely, reliably, and with no trips to the Porta-Potty.
Certainly, some may continue to find work in the construction trades, but there are only so many such jobs for unskilled workers to fulfill; even fast-food joints are increasingly turning to automation in the face of government-mandated health insurance and minimum-wage requirements. So for the vast majority of illegals flooding across our southern border, the job markets are going to be shrinking.
In Oregon, the main venues currently available to them are nurseries and other agricultural ventures, and those are precisely the areas targeted by robotics. Some manage to find work with unscrupulous contractors, but that's not exactly reliable:
Construction, which had been one of Oregon's fastest-growing sectors, lost the most ground last month. The report said contractors cut a seasonally adjusted 3,600 jobs, significantly peeling away at its growth from the past year.
And with more Americans forced to work 29 hours a week due to Obamacare mandates, guess who's not going to be buying a house any time soon? What that means is that construction jobs are going to continue on a downward trend. And while the local home sales market appears hot, superficially, the fact of the matter is that it's stalled out; I looked at a new home just a couple of blocks away from here, and it's kind of nice - hardwood floors, great kitchen, spacious yet cozy, and only $250k. Low taxes and utilities due to its location just across the Portland boundary. A year and a half or so ago, and it'd have been snapped up. I looked at it three months ago. It's still on the market.
Down the street, another home's been available for quite some time, and I noticed when passing that the realtor has posted a "new price" sticker on the sign. People aren't in a buying mood, even though interest rates are incredibly low, and the reason for that is likely uncertainty: what if they buy and then get their hours cut - or lose their job entirely? Heck, even the financial sector's cut jobs here.
It's one of the reasons why apartment vacancies are down - it's cheaper to rent, and there's no maintenance to do. With sales and construction sputtering, and robotics hitting the fields, where exactly are these hard-working illegal aliens going to find hard work?
Maybe they can start a lawn-mowing business. Oh, wait - robots are moving into that venue as well.
