Some people, politicians and pundits dismiss the idea that there are jobs Americans won’t do. But from Joe Drake’s experience it’s true.
Drake runs a $2 million, full-service landscaping company in Auburn Township, Ohio—J.F.D. Landscapes. For several years, because he’s been unable to meet his staffing needs locally, Drake has brought in foreign workers through the H-2B guest worker program.
The notion that Americans won’t take entry-level landscaping jobs—forcing employers like Drake to seek good workers elsewhere—is a polarizing factor in the immigration debate. Growing landscape and lawn maintenance companies need reliable employees to push mowers, lay sod, spread mulch and plant, but the amount of work often exceeds the number of willing local workers.
Local efforts didn’t pay
H-2B wasn’t Drake’s first choice. He tried recruiting and placing newspaper ads and all the other normal avenues to find employees. But he always came up short.
So when Drake was offered a chance to bring in American workers in the most desperate need of jobs, he volunteered.
In the late 1990s, as a member of the Ohio Landscape Association, Drake partnered with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) in a program called Parkworks. The program helped train jobless or low-income people from Cleveland for jobs in the landscaping industry.
The CMHA provided transportation to Drake’s workplace in the suburbs, about 40 minutes away. Their van could hold 15 people but they never got more than two or three workers each day. And those who did come rarely lasted more than a few days.
They said the work was too hard, or that it was too hot outside. Some admitted they could earn as much collecting welfare checks than earning it themselves.
“This was a couple of years ago, and I was paying $8-$10 an hour,” Drake says. “But it wasn’t feasible for the program to go on. I can’t run a business if I don’t know if I have any workers who are going to show up.”
The program only lasted a few weeks before all sides gave up on it.
This year Drake will get about nine workers through H-2B.
“All these jobs were supposed to be career positions, progressing from laborers to managers” Drake says. “It’s sad, but we just can’t find the people and we can’t afford to pay someone $20 an hour to mow grass.”
Cultural shift?
Situations like Drake’s beg the question, why won’t Americans take these jobs? Is the physical labor too much? The pay too little? According to Mike Zohns, it’s a combination of factors.
“This challenge has been around for a long time,” says Zohns, a professor in the horticulture and crop science department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. In his more than 30 years with the university, Zohns has seen firsthand how job trends ebb and flow.
“Locals often don’t relish the opportunity,” Zohns says. “For whatever combination of reasons, many don’t want to work outside, they want to drive fancy cars and live in nicer places. There’s nothing wrong with wanting that, but a lot of people want that sooner rather than later.”
With fewer untrained people entering Green Industry jobs, Zohns sees a huge demand every year for his qualified students. While students trained in horticulture and landscaping programs do pay their dues in the hot sun for low pay, they often begin their careers in what Zohns calls “custom entry-level” positions. This means grads may start out at low wage—but on the fast track to middle management thanks to their education.
That still leaves a lot of slots for seasonal crew members. For most employers, it’s simply more efficient to fill the spots with people who will show up willing to work. That usually translates to immigrants here on temporary visas.
Proof in numbers
Before an employer can receive authorization to get temporary workers, he or she must demonstrate proof that the local job market isn’t meeting the company’s needs.
That’s not as easy as it sounds, according to Bob Wingfield, founder of Amigos Labor Solutions, a Dallas-based agency that processes H-2B workers for Green Industry businesses nationwide. As part of the H-2B application process, employers file a form with the State Workforce Agency (SWA). To follow the process, employers must run a local ad for three days advertising the job openings. At the same time, the SWA searches its local databases for names and contact information of people seeking jobs, which it passes on to the employer, who must contact the candidates and follow up with interview requests.
The process can last at least two weeks, Wingfield says, and rarely yields good results.
“This year we ran 300 newspaper ads looking for 4,500 employees,” he says. “Less than 200 names came to employers from the different states, and less than 100 people were hired from those names. This amounted to more than $350,000 worth of advertising.”
This, Wingfield says, is often proof enough for the employers he represents that local Americans won’t take these jobs.
“In this business, you have to be efficient. And you’ve got to have the workers,” Drake says. “H-2B workers are reliable; they’re hard working; and they are taking jobs that Americans don’t want to do.”
