economic opportunity

Dunkin’ Donuts: the Schwab’s Drug Store of Discovering Immigrant Talent

There may be no space remaining where the immigration debate isn’t present. I noticed a smattering of immigration-related posts the other day even on LinkedIn, known more as a place for professional networking and as the go-to site to host one’s business credentials.

Mark D. Copoulos, a Philadelphia attorney, garnered 34,544 “likes” and 1,179 comments on this post:

Many among President Donald Trump’s supporters wonder why he spends so little time on less challenging, less controversial immigration goals. An example is E-Verify, the free and easy online program that confirms whether an employee is legally authorized to work in the United States. With an estimated 8 million illegal aliens in the labor market sector, mandatory E-Verify would free up most of those jobs for Americans.

Diep Tran, chef and owner of Los Angeles’ popular Good Girl Dinette, recently wrote a passionate opinion column that criticized food journalists for promoting cheap eats lists. Tran, a Vietnamese refugee, said that by advertising dining establishments that serve lower cost food than available elsewhere, publications sanction, perhaps unknowingly, hiring immigrants who invariably work for lower than the going rate an American or legal resident would expect.

Silicon Valley is angry at President Donald Trump. First, after putting piles of cash at the feet of Hillary Clinton, tech executives suffered a doomed love affair with their defeated candidate.

During the Trump inauguration ceremonies, announcers made much ado of outgoing Vice President Joe Biden taking Amtrak back home to Wilmington, Delaware. Reportedly nicknamed “Amtrak Joe,” and in keeping with his alleged “man of the people” reputation, Biden when he was a Senator commuted daily between the capital and his Delaware residence.

In December, the economy created 157,000 jobs, about 20,000 less than Wall Street analysts predicted. Of those 156,000 jobs, 41,000 were part-time. A record 95.1 million people are not in the labor market, an 18,000 increase from the last month, and an astronomical 841,000 bump over the last three months.

Every chance I get, I repeat to my 19-year-old college sophomore granddaughter and my 17-year-old high school senior grandson that they can’t waste a minute in their goal to bulk up their employment resumes.

This summer, my granddaughter had a part-time job as a cashier at a large box store retailer. Last month, before she left for college, I told her – kidding on the square – that her cashier’s job may be the best one she’ll ever have even after she earns her diploma.

At first blush, the June Bureau of Labor Statistics report looked decent. Last month, the economy created 287,000 jobs. But analysts’ excitement over the higher-than-anticipated total vanished immediately when the May jobs figure was revised downward from an already low 38,000 to a microscopic 11,000. The two month May-June average is a humdrum 150,000, below the 2014 and 2015 levels.