President Donald Trump's mass deportation of illegal immigrants could lower the price of chicken dinners and raise wages for families, according to poultry industry news site AviNews.com.
“The poultry industry relies heavily on immigrant labor. Many of these workers are in the country illegally, and their role in processing plants and farms is critical,” the Dec. 11 article noted. He added:
This loss of labor could force companies to raise wages to attract workers. [American] domestic worker.
Also, many people are coming back, illegal immigration The site pointed out that imports into the country would reduce consumer consumption of chicken products.
Immigrants are not only an important part of the workforce, but also a significant part of the consumer base. A reduction in the immigrant population due to deportations will reduce the number of consumers purchasing poultry products. This decrease in demand could lead to an oversupply of poultry meat. lower the price [emphasis added] and can lead to economic losses for producers.
“We're also going to lose mouths to feed, and if they don't consume it, prices will go down,” said Len Steiner, founder and principal at Steiner Consulting Group. According to reports, he spoke at the Meat Research Institute's “2025 Economic Outlook for Meat and Poultry'' on December 10th. report At Wattagnet.com.
The predictions of higher wages and cheaper chicken differ greatly from the pessimistic message of the pro-immigration lobby in Washington, D.C.
But lobbyists for the poultry industry will fight back because higher wages and lower sales will reduce already thin industry profits and the value of their stock on Wall Street.
So poultry companies are trying to minimize the economic blow from the loss of cheap foreign labor provided by President Joe Biden's pro-immigration border chief, Alejandro Mayorkas.
“Increasingly, broiler and turkey processors are automation solution Not only to improve production output and product quality, but also to combat growing labor problems.”WattPoultry.com reported June 5, 2024.
Opening in late 2023 in Danville, Virginia, the state-of-the-art $300 million Tyson chicken processing plant is designed to maximize efficiency. It will produce 20 to 30 percent more chicken nuggets, strips and wings with 250 fewer employees than a similar older plant in Arkansas that is part of the company. $1.3 billion automation plan We will further strengthen our operations from processing to packaging.
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“There's a lot of efficiency, savings and productivity involved,” said Tyson CEO Donnie King.
of journal Pointing out the benefits for local employees, he said:
An increased focus on productivity and automation has increased the number of slaughterhouses since the early 1980s, when meat processors moved from a union-led, high-wage urban workforce to a cheaper, often illegal, rural workforce. It would also help workers recover some of their lost hourly wages.
The industry's drive to shift profits toward automation and productivity accelerated with the election of President Donald Trump in 2017. For example, in 2020, Costco built a high-productivity poultry plant in Fremont, Nebraska, using technology developed in Iceland.
New technologies include electronic eyes, flexible arms, pick and pack tripodReduce employee injuries and accelerate productivity. Many other countries — such as China and Germany — Investing more in new meat packaging technology
Furthermore, the U.S. economy Millions of working-age men and women are forced out of work.especially outside of major cities. Some people can be rehabilitated and trained to work in the poultry industry, especially if they work with other Americans.
In February, Steve Camarota, a researcher at the Center for Immigration Studies, said: I wrote:
The labor force participation rate for U.S.-born men (ages 18 to 64) without a bachelor's degree is now 75.6%, still lower than the 76.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Both of these numbers are significantly lower than 80.6% in 2006 and 82.6% in 2000.
In the 1960s, almost 90% of these men were in the labor force.
The costs are also high, as Americans who are removed from service are often on welfare or state aid.
However, many employers prefer to hire immigrants who are docile and cheap.
In September, the Wall Street Journal explained Housing situation for Haitians at a meat processing plant in Greeley, Colorado:
a [company] Human resources supervisors arranged for some of the migrant workers to stay at the Rainbow Motel, about a mile from the factory, where they lived for several weeks. They slept on the floor, as many as eight to a room, and cooked their meals on hot plates on the carpet. [The company] Paid the bill.
The supervisor, himself an immigrant from the African nation of Benin, housed others in a five-bedroom, two-bathroom unit he rented in a house in town. There too they slept on the floor. According to workers, more than 30 people were living there at one time. When the power went out in the winter, they cooked with their coats on. They were charged $60 a week in rent.
“Workers feared they would lose their jobs if they complained,” the report added.
