From news.rice.edu:
New immigration research from Rice University, the University of North Carolina and the Centre for Population, Poverty and Public Policy Studies suggests the U.S. should re-evaluate its definition of skilled workers to include informal skills of migrant workers.
The study, "Identifying and Measuring the Lifelong Human Capital of 'Unskilled' Migrants in the Mexico-U.S. Migrator Circuit," draws on a binational multistage research project that involved interviews with 320 Mexican migrants and return migrants in North Carolina and Guanajuato, Mexico. The study identifies lifelong human capital knowledge and technical and social skills acquired and transferred throughout these migrants' careers.
The study was funded by UNC Carolina Population Center, the UNC Research Council and the research program of the Mexican Higher Education Secretary and is available online at http://jmhs.cmsny.org/index.php/jmhs/article/view/26.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Caballo Negro on Friday June 27 2014, @09:19AM
(Score: 1) by fadrian on Friday June 27 2014, @06:07PM
Well, to be fair, anyone who could cook anything other than British food would be an improvement.
That is all.
(Score: 2) by emg on Friday June 27 2014, @07:15PM
Because it's not as though there aren't already a dozen curry houses on every High Street across Britain.
Is there really a lack of 'curry chefs', or is this just a scam so Indians can more easily move to the UK?
(Score: 1) by FakeBeldin on Friday June 27 2014, @11:33AM
I have modpoints, and tried modding you up twice.
No go. Not clear why.
Anyway, have a virtual +1 from me instead -- I appreciated your comment.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Horse With Stripes on Friday June 27 2014, @12:00PM
Why just migrant workers? I realize that their labors are mostly invisible to the general public, and they're looked down upon by many, but there are a lot of workers whose jobs are considered "unskilled" that acquire a lot of experience and insight over their careers. For example, there are janitors and waiters/waitresses that have "gee, anyone can do that type of work" jobs that have been doing it so long that their skills and efficiencies at their jobs are considerable. These people are not only skilled but they are often used to train new employees and evaluate their job performance. Let's not overlook those homegrown "unskilled" workers, shall we?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Jiro on Friday June 27 2014, @02:26PM
To state the obvious, it's just migrant workers and not locals with the same experience because this is a politically motivated article in favor of more immigration, not a neutral analysis of exactly what it means to be a skilled worker. Claiming that citizens with the same experience are also skilled workers would not serve the purpose of the writers because it would indicate that migrants replace citizens who are skilled workers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 27 2014, @03:04PM
> To state the obvious, it's just migrant workers and not locals with the same experience because this is a politically motivated article
or.... It is because migrant workers were the scope of the research so that is who they are qualified to talk about.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday June 27 2014, @04:05PM
No, Jiro is right, this is just more bullshit to justify depressing wages and getting more Latino votes for the Democrats.
Such special "skills" the class of labor defined in the article bring based on my firsthand observations includes unwillingness to assimilate and anti-American sentiment, criminal predisposition, causing the lowering of standards of living by packing more people into smaller and smaller domiciles and congregating in larger and larger numbers, noise, trash, crime in general, a sense of unearned entitlement, reckless breeding and irresponsible lack of family planning, and generally having a more infantile mindset*.
Fortunately the tide in America is turning towards populism and nobody still wants to touch the bullshit pro-amnesty ideas given that diseased and criminal immigrants from Central America are scurrying across our borders by the thousands like the cockroaches [wikipedia.org] they are.
* Yes, this does not apply to SOME of them, but it applies to most of them. Therefore, it is not racism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 27 2014, @07:07PM
> No, Jiro is right, this is just more bullshit to justify depressing wages and getting more Latino votes for the Democrats.
So then, how about you explain what meaningful changes would come from "reclassifying" low-wage citizen workers as skilled workers? In what way is that "classification" holding them back?
The article makes it clear that the classification does matter with respect to immigration law becauses that is where it is defined and used. But can you name one law that the classification applies to that isn't about immigration? Social security? Nope. Medicare? Nope. Health insurance? Nope. Salary versus hourly? Nope. Right to work? Nope.
Oh I forgot, it does apply to 'professional trolls' that's some high skill work that deserves beaucoup bucks.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday June 27 2014, @08:07PM
Unskilled labor should not in my opinion be considered or reclassified "skilled," citizens or not.
Should a bedridden chronic masturbator with Downs syndrome be considered a "skilled worker" because he can beat his dick consecutively 20 times a day? I think not! Good day sir. *Hmmph!*
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday June 27 2014, @09:52PM
He is skilled, it's just that that particular skill isn't in demand.
(Score: 1) by Jiro on Saturday June 28 2014, @05:21PM
It's not that the classification triggers a law, it's that the classification would be politically embarrassing. Actually treating all such laborers as skilled would be politically embarrassing because while it makjes immigrants look better because they are skilled, it also makes immigrants look worse because they are diusplacing skilled matives.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday June 27 2014, @06:29PM
Came here to post the same thing.
You don't get credit for any credit for "lifelong human capital knowledge and technical and social skills acquired and transferred throughout your career" when applying for any job in this country, especially for big corp jobs.
To suggest this be given to migrant workers is irresponsible, and to suggest it be applied to ALL workers probably never occurred to them, and if it had run the idea past their own HR department, they would have been laughed out of the office.
In fact, you often won't get any credit for self employment in any technical field, which can leave a business owner unemployable after a long career in many technical fields. You are better off listing that experience as if you were an employee.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 27 2014, @04:50PM
I don't understand why this article interests Soylent. The American H1B visa issue is a tech issue and a global issue, because many technically oriented people think about moving to the US if they can't find a way into Germany or the nicer countries. But unskilled immigrants of this sort are basically Mexican lawnmowers. Why is Soylent interested?
(Score: 1) by fadrian on Friday June 27 2014, @06:11PM
Why is Soylent interested?
Why not? Soylent, although leaning techward, is not exclusively a technical blog. This was discussed ad nauseum during the naming debate. It's one of the reasons why it doesn't have a name with tech in it.
Why does it bother you so much? If you don't like what an article is about, don't read it.
That is all.