Thread: INFURIATING FRONT PAGE PROPAGANDA--Hispanics in NC

Filling Gaps: Many immigrants arrive with skills
Hispanics keep costs of construction down
By Richard Craver
JOURNAL REPORTER
Tuesday, January 10, 2006

The state's construction industry and the Hispanic community have become interdependent, if not inseparable, in the past 10 years. Local companies and homeowners are benefiting from the relationship in lower labor costs.

The cost of building a home in the Triad could be about 10 percent higher - or $15,000 for a $150,000 home - without the presence of Hispanic workers, construction officials estimated yesterday.

"We did not have the local laborers five years ago to build homes at the volume we're doing now," said Grover Shugart Jr., the president of Shugart Enterprises LLC, a homebuilder based in Winston-Salem. "The Hispanic worker is making that possible because they are taking jobs others are choosing not to fill."

Shugart said that the influence has been felt more in shortening the time required to build a home rather than the labor costs. "But both are important because higher costs or longer build times can discourage some potential homeowners from going forward," he said.

About 42 percent of Hispanics statewide work in the construction industry, according to a study released last week by the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

No data are available specifically on the Triad, but the study found that Hispanics make up 29 percent of the state's construction work force. Six of the top seven occupations for male Hispanics are construction-related, led by laborers filling 51,931 jobs.

Hispanics have become the predominant worker - some Triad construction officials estimate at levels of 70 percent - in labor-intensive trades such as brick masonry, drywall and framing.

"This industry has become heavily dependent upon Hispanic workers," the study found.

The relationship, however, is not without controversy.

Illegal immigrants working in the Triad have been a flash point for some residents. They said that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from non-Hispanics, and that they are sending too much of their salaries to family outside the country instead of spending it here.

The study found that 45 percent of Hispanic residents of the state in 2004 were illegal. From 1995 to 2004, 76 percent who came here from other countries were illegal.

The study found that if Hispanic construction workers had not been available in 2004, it would have represented up to a $10 billion reduction in the value of construction done in the state. The ripple effect also would have included a $2.7 billion decrease in revenue for suppliers to the construction industry and up to 27,000 homes not being built.

"Even if the net effect were a fraction of the above upper-limit estimates - which do not take labor substitution effects into account - there would be a dramatic impact on other (financial) sectors such as banking," the study found.

Local officials declined to put a specific percentage on illegal immigrants working construction jobs. But they said that the reality is that the industry would suffer without Hispanic workers.

The construction industry "has dodged a bullet" in terms of a labor shortage of incoming young employees, said Ken Klamfoth, the human-resources manager for John S. Clark Co. Inc. of Mount Airy. Klamfoth said that about 7 percent of the company's 310 workers are Hispanic.

"If the Hispanic community had not met the need, we would have a severe shortage of construction workers because many jobs wouldn't have been filled by non-Hispanics," he said.

Eswin Camay, a legal immigrant from Guatemala, has spent nearly 11 of his 17 years in this country working in construction. He has had a jack-of-all-trades job at Frank L. Blum Construction Co. of Winston-Salem for the past 3 1/2 years.

Camay said that working in construction has provided him with steady employment, a home and car and an opportunity to assimilate into the community.

"I will never go back home because there are few better place to live than North Carolina," said Camay, who also serves as a translator for Blum and helps with its newsletter.

"I pay taxes here, I've had the chance to better myself here and my children are in better schools here," Camay said. "I know I'm not alone in having a better life. In the early 1990s, there were few Hispanics in construction. Look at it now."

There isn't a lot of competition from non-Hispanics for many construction jobs, said Juan Rocha-Perez, the co-owner of Rocha Family Investments Ltd., a general contractor based in Winston-Salem.

"They are not taking jobs away from someone else in most instances, but earning it the American way through hard work," Rocha-Perez said.

Wages vary across the industry.

The average construction job pays $19.42 an hour, according to data from Carolinas AGC, a trade group for general contractors in the Carolinas. The average construction and extraction wage in North Carolina is $14.67 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; many laborer jobs pay several dollars less an hour.

Hispanics are filling a construction-worker shortage not only in the Triad and North Carolina, but also in the nation, said Leslie Blum, a spokeswoman with Carolinas AGC.

"It has been a public-relations challenge because there is a perception that opportunities are flat in the industry when in fact there are great opportunities with quality pay," Blum said.

Officials said that the industry attracts primarily Hispanics for several reasons.

Construction historically has drawn immigrant workers who accept the trade-off of working long, hard hours for a chance at a better quality of life, officials said.

"The language barrier is not as great in construction as in other industries, especially if there is a concentration of Hispanics on the work site," Rocha-Perez said.

Construction tends to be the No. 1 job objective for many Hispanics coming to North Carolina because they have had experience with bricks, concrete and stone in their homeland, said Miriam Hernandez, a local consultant who founded the Hispanic/International Action Association. "Construction pays more than agriculture, and this area is more established in lifestyle and financially for Hispanics," she said.

Because a higher percentage of non-Hispanic students are going to two- or four-year colleges, they are reducing a supply of workers that previously was available for construction, said Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools offers a career preparatory track focused on the arts and technical or vocational trades. The system also offers specialized courses, such as carpentry, electronics and mechanics, at the Career Center. The Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce and local construction companies are promoting industry jobs.

But Klamfoth, the human-relations manager at John S. Clark, said he doesn't believe that enough is being done in area school systems to recommend construction-trade careers.

Klamforth said that John S. Clark tends to see non-Hispanics become interested in a construction job in their mid- to late-20s.

"They approach us when they've tried other career paths and they didn't work out or satisfy," Klamfoth said. "They know they are good with their hands, like the outdoors and like the satisfaction from seeing the result of what they do."

Rocha-Perez said that for many Hispanic students, college is still a challenge financially. "Which is why the construction industry is more attractive, especially to the students' parents," Rocha-Perez said. "They have a chance to specialize in a skill that if they really develop it, they have the opportunity to work for themselves."

Drew Hancock, the president of Blum Construction, said that the company offers an "on-the-job education" to anyone willing to learn, work hard and be dependable. He said that at least 15 percent of Blum's field work force are Hispanics.

Hernandez predicts that some Hispanics will move on from being construction laborers as educational opportunities become more accessible.

"You'll see more become site managers, top managers and business owners in the construction industry," Hernandez said. "They'll get the same sense of satisfaction as other immigrant groups as they move on economically, and the back-end construction jobs will be filled by another immigrant group wanting the good life in America."

• Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com

This story can be found at: http://journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite ... 53&path=&s

They now have a forum on the Winston-Salem Journal's website where people can post comments. BELIEVE ME, I just posted a SCATHING one.

I find it EXTREMELY disturbing that the Winston-Salem Journal has now given front page coverage related to that Kenan Institute study twice in one week while IGNORING THE COVERAGE of the Gilberto Cruz Hernandez, or SERIAL RAPIST who lived in Winston-Salem. AND, I let them know, in no uncertain terms, that I was tired of reading their PRO-ILLEGAL propaganda and not being able to find equal coverage for the PROBLEMS caused by these illegal immigrants specifically the Hernandez case.

I am MAD! VERY MAD!

Email to moron at WSJ:

Too damned bad some illegal immigrant didn't fill the gap at WSJ before you wrote such bullshit as this.

"They'll get the same sense of satisfaction as other immigrant groups as they move on economically, and the back-end construction jobs will be filled by another immigrant group wanting the good life in America."

You idiot, it's not just unskilled labor positions they're after, as they move up the ladder, even your job will be jeopardized. Yours is the only job I will not help defend.

Bootsie can you get people in the area to call the editor at WSJ? Everybody there out to cancel the subscription to that rag. They should just print their garbage in Spanish for all illegals.

Believe me--it won't do a damn bit of good. I have called. I have WRITTEN. I have sent letters to the Editor. UNLESS it agrees with THEIR position, they find SOME WAY to exclude them. I couldn't even COUNT the number of people I contacted about the LACK of GOOD COVERAGE on the Hernandez case. Just LOST COUNT. When even the GREENSBORO paper was printing good, INVESTIGATIVE reports on this MONSTER, the W-S paper just seemed to IGNORE all of the RELEVANT ISSUES such as the man getting the FHA backed loan for that house IN WINSTON-SALEM. Remember when the reporter in PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA wrote that article about this case?? I sent THAT to the NEWS EDITOR at the Journal thinking SURELY this will SHAME them into REPORTING ON THIS CASE. IT DID NO GOOD.

I'll write the reporter as well. Thanks for the idea!

OK, how about if all you know who subscribe to that rag, take it and throw it out at their front door?

AND, HERE IS MINE!

It just INFURIATED me when I picked up my Winston-Salem Journal this morning to find the SECOND FRONT PAGE ARTICLE IN A WEEK extolling the virtues of having an Hispanic workforce in the construction jobs in Winston-Salem. If you are buying into that FLAWED, LIBERAL KENAN INSTITUTE STUDY about the NEED for Hispanics for North Carolina jobs, you are living in a vacuum. What in the WORLD would make you think that AMERICAN WORKERS would NOT fill jobs that paid between $15-$20 an HOUR???? Believe me, in Davidson County, right next door to Forsyth County, people would be CLAMORING for those jobs.

It is SHAMEFUL that the Journal would choose to print articles like this that are, for all intents and purposes, CONDONING ILLEGAL ACTS. First of all, IF you believe the Kenan study, FORTY FIVE PERCENT OF THOSE HISPANICS ARE ILLEGAL. So, do you think that the contractors in Winston should be given a PASS for hiring ILLEGAL WORKERS at the EXPENSE OF AMERICANS who are without jobs?

What is EVEN MORE INFURIATING is the complete LACK OF COVERAGE on the incident back a couple of months ago in which Gilberto Cruz Hernandez was charged with MULTIPLE RAPES AND OTHER SERIOUS CRIMES in the Triad area. The OTHER newspapers in the area were doing some FINE INVESTIGATIVE reporting while the Journal sat on their collective hands. A Greensboro Record reporter uncovered some EXTREMELY disturbing facts about this man having been able to acquire an FHA-BACKED HOME LOAN for a NEW HOME IN WINSTON. This MONSTER was here ILLEGALLY, had already been deported TWICE and he was able to get something that AMERICAN YOUNG PEOPLE would give their eye teeth to get??? And, the JOURNAL IGNORES THIS LITTLE FACT. I even sent the reports from other papers, INCLUDING ONE from the PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA paper to the news staff at the Journal and they just ignored it.

I am SO FED UP with this paper that I am ready to cancel my subscription and urge all of my friends to do the same. I would like to see you give EQUAL COVERAGE to all of the CRIMES COMMITTED IN OUR AREA BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

Originally Posted by Bootsie

The cost of building a home in the Triad could be about 10 percent higher - or $15,000 for a $150,000 home - without the presence of Hispanic workers, construction officials estimated yesterday.

Good morning, Bootsie,

Maybe NC is different, perhaps.... Aren't home prices determined by the prevailing price per square foot (not just determined by builders)? Aren't they forgetting that resale prices of existing homes factor in?

So, looks to me like the writer's message is "you guys are mean spirited - you're gonna put construction workers out of a job!" Ahem, cough, cough, is the Journal writer clueless or what?

Just my 2 cents worth, if I may.

Thanks
Coto

Ahem, cough, cough, is the Journal writer clueless or what?

That's a big PING!