Truth ...
The problems are complex and the answers are even more complex ...
I have heard of people being turned down for jobs because they were too qualified.
Truth.
I ran into this during the last recession myself. I was willing to take a major pay-cut and work for far less, even prove myself and grow with a new employer. I was told by several that I was too qualified and they believed I would not stick around when the market rebounded.
And if they hired me, they worked me into the ground, for peanuts, too. Because the ones willing to hire me were the ones that went through employees left'n right, 2:1 to 4:1 turnover rate per year (meaning average employment was only 180 down to 90 days).
So instead, I started my own, small business. A decade later, I'm glad I did. No more BS. So worth the other non-sense to be empowered with making your own decisions and living with your own successes and failures.
First thing you learn is getting fucked over, and how it's
still your fault because you let yourself get fucked over. It doesn't matter what the economic system is, it still happens. That's probably why I prefer capitalism (real capitalism, which we don't have here in the US, and haven't since the '80s), because at least I'm in control of what I do and what I sell.
US employers are stupid, and causing their own issues. I run into it all-the-time with my clients, partners and others. I do my best to correct their stupidity and self-inflicting hurt. But I am just one person.
There are some lazy people. I saw a show about fourth generation welfare families. The government needs to cut off people like that.
Sadly, this is also truth.
One of the ways to stop the "undocumented" generation is to cut off the public non-sense. Companies causing the most issues are relying on public services, and many who consider coming to the US knows this.
The age of immigrants, Americans and American companies actually wanting to "help" immigrants build a better life for themselves is long gone. There are far, far better basic services that
cannot be denied to even "undocumented" residents in the US versus their home nation. Hence why it continues, because they know it's here. Not opportunity, but "fall back." It used to be about "opportunity" only.
That's why even if the US government required every citizen to have health insurance or suffer penalties (which is not just a federal / Obama idea, but US states like Mass have done and Romey has championed), it would still not account for continued, unpaid services for "undocumented" residents. And that's just one, small detail.
And that's not my view. I have many first generation immigrants I work with, many here 20+ years. And I have others that have only been granted a H1B Visa, when they are uniquely qualified (advanced degrees in engineering and physics with 10+ years experience designing something never made in the US before), and are
not taking jobs from Americans. But they have to go through the non-sense, instead of being given a Green card.
They would have a better chance coming in illegally. Sad, but true. Both groups are so upset with the immigration laws. They favor the "undocumented" workers. Good companies are then caught in-the-middle.
It is so easy to get a driver's license in the US, and so many other things. And the federal and state governments have
no right to challenge your citizenship, it's an American civic right not to have to prove you are a resident -- which means that protects "undocumented" residents as well. This is also a major, continuing issue (even Arizona doesn't know how to deal with).
So the US government is going after employers, although it's largely the "documenting" employers that are getting hit. There's no "good answer" here.