Is the US really better than Mexico?

[Gokul43201]

He makes on the order of about $7,000 a year, and we plan on paying him 3-4x that, which will put him at about 1/2 to 2/3 of what we'd pay an equivalent American citizen.

Would this not be a violation of the Equal Pay Act or of the Equal Employment Opportunity laws? I really don't know how these laws apply to non-citizens.

 

[russ_watters]

[to Fred and Gokul] No, it would not be. He isn't really equivalent to "the equivalent American citizen". As you can imagine, there is an inherrent risk to my company in transplanting him from another country.

It is a serious risk for both the company and for him. That's a given. If he doesn't work out, we'll be stuck with him for two years, and if he does, he can expect to be rewarded quickly. He will have a contract.

Besides - being a small company, mine is not equipped to handle all that much risk. *I* started below the industry average in my job, but in 3.5 years, my pay has gone up by about 50%.

 

[russ_watters]

And does that really give him a better life? What can he afford on about $7000 a year in Chihuahua compared to that 3-4 X that in Philly? That's a pretty poor salary to live on in Philly.

At $21-$28k (I can't actually remember what we were going to pay him - it was probably toward the higher end), he'll be making enough to own a car and share an apartment in suburban Philly, and the general living conditions will be better than in Chihuahua.

Something else I didn't mention - he'll be getting a starting bonus. That's kinda a necessity just to get him here. It won't be much, but it should be enough to buy a cheap used car, pay the start of his insurance and pay his first month or two of rent.

Four times 7k, he might as well work at wall-mart, he'll make more money.

Wall Mart starts people at $28k? I doubt that.

 

[loseyourname]

I'm not sure that a manager at WalMart even makes $28k. Nonetheless, the first job I ever held was in retail with no prior experience, and it took me all of four months to get promoted to a position that paid a wee bit over $25k. Heck, had I stayed in that job rather than opt to go to college, I'd likely now be making somewhere between $45-50k (assuming the company continued to grow at the rate it had been growing when I joined). It sucks (for lack of a better word) that someone with an engineering degree will be making about what I made in a basically entry-level position straight out of high school.

Just another reason to be glad I wasn't born in Mexico, I guess. I do think that anyone contending it isn't enough to live on, however, should remember back to their days as a student. I'm currently living on nothing but financial aid, which gives me around $15k a year after tuition and fees to live off of, and I'm living fairly comfortably with that. I'd never be able to support a family or buy a house, but I can certainly survive, eat well, and pursue basic recreational habits.

 

[russ_watters]

You guys are perceiving this as a high risk move for him. Of course it is! What have we been talking about in this thread?

You have to remember, for both the skilled legal and unskilled legal, the risk is high, but the potential reward is also high.

We work with another company in Philly that transplants Indians and puts them up townhouses dormatory style. They seem happy with the situation, but I wouln't be and the guy we are bringing from Mexico will be better off.

 

[russ_watters]

More on this:

...and the general living conditions will be better than in Chihuahua.

Something to remember - "general living conditions" isn't just your apartment and your car. It is also things like not having your water shut off during the day, every day, not having random power outages 2-3 times a week, and not having an exceedingly high petty crime rate due to the poverty level. Even the rich have to deal with such issues in Chihuahua.

And life is about tough choices. My 31 year old friend who works at the acquarium lives with his parents because manages his money badly. Among other things, he owns a more expensive car (but not better - gawd, does he pick awful cars) than he should. My boss's son lives at home and drives an Acura TL!

In this area, $500 a month will get you a 1br roach motel by yourself or a share of something half decent.

 

[loseyourname]

My sister (who is 24) still lives with my parents and drives a BMW 500 series. I was absolutely appalled when I came home to find that out. Speaking of bad money-management, I overheard her saying to someone on the phone that she makes minimum payments of nearly $300 a month on credit card debt that she's managed to accrue. On what??! All she buys are clothes! She hasn't grown or gained or lost any weight in almost ten years! How many pairs of clothes could she have bought to accumulate that kind of debt??

Also, in the spirit of this thread, she makes over $30k a year as a dispatcher with a high-school diploma. I suppose the guy you're bringing over will have more opportunity for advancement than she's likely to ever have, though.

 

[JasonRox]

My sister (who is 24) still lives with my parents and drives a BMW 500 series. I was absolutely appalled when I came home to find that out. Speaking of bad money-management, I overheard her saying to someone on the phone that she makes minimum payments of nearly $300 a month on credit card debt that she's managed to accrue. On what??! All she buys are clothes! She hasn't grown or gained or lost any weight in almost ten years! How many pairs of clothes could she have bought to accumulate that kind of debt??

Also, in the spirit of this thread, she makes over $30k a year as a dispatcher with a high-school diploma. I suppose the guy you're bringing over will have more opportunity for advancement than she's likely to ever have, though.

Sounds like my sister almost.

It makes me sick how people who make 30-40k living at home, paying cheap ass rent, and STILL can't manage to save money to not only move out, but buy a house!

 

[russ_watters]

Ok, I checked and I was way off on the salary. We're giving him $34k. That's about 3/4 of what I started for, so my math was off too. I was right about the $7k he's getting now, though.

I still need to go on a rant about how many Americans don't believe in the American dream anymore. But not right now...

 

[Moonbear]

Ok, I checked and I was way off on the salary. We're giving him $34k.

That's more liveable.

And thanks for filling in the details of life in Chihuahua, because that's what I was wondering. It's tough to imagine a one bedroom roach motel is better than whatever he's coming from, but maybe it is...which is pretty scary. Of course, I have to wonder how comfortable someone with a decent education would be living in a neighborhood that offers $500 apartments.

It also makes a difference if he's young and single, than if he were married and older. Like LYN said, we've all lived in some crappy conditions while students, but we also knew how much longer we had to wait until we would graduate and start making more money so we could look forward to things getting better. It sounds like you do have that covered in this guy's contract (or will), so he too will know if he works hard and works smart, he'll earn raises and be able to move up too.