Welfare Reform To Boost Work Ethic

The beautiful people who frolic in Colorado’s beautiful ski country don’t know it, but their playtime is made possible by foreign workers.

We’re not talking about a few Alpine ski instructors or French chefs. Were talking about all those workers who clean rooms, polish floors, wash underwear and perform the other humble jobs that go unnoticed by the comely crowd with the NordicTrack bodies and perfect teeth.

Asked why resort operators are looking overseas to find workers, the unguarded answer of a ski resort owner foretells serious problems ahead for welfare reform.

“They train well,” he said. “They have lots of energy.”

The candid remark by an executive of the Ralston Purina company, which owns three high-profile ski resorts in Colorado, appeared in the Denver Post.

The executive also could have said that the foreign workers are willing to work for the typical ski resort wages of $7 to $8 an hour. More than just willing, foreign workers are joyous over the opportunity to earn wages nearly double the U.S. minimum wage.

Resort owners are finding that increasing numbers of American workers resent such miserly recompense for this lowly work. They deserve better. They deserve to cavort on the slopes and in the hot tubs alongside the beautiful people. They cannot rent the sort of housing they deserve for a measly $8 an hour. And they certainly do not deserve to live in dormitory rooms with other laborers or have to commute from down-scale nearby communities.

The solution for resort owners has been to hire foreign workers from such impoverished areas as Eastern Europe and west Africa to accept the jobs that Americans refuse.

The Denver Post story said the number of foreign workers in one Colorado county with four ski resorts is estimated to have doubled over the last five years. In the next four years, foreign labor is expected to make up 15 percent of the county’s work force.

To solve the problem caused by the lack of Americans willing to do the work, ski resort operators have turned to the federal government.

Resort owners have asked the U.S. Labor Department for permission to hire more foreign workers. And they have sought assistance from the U.S. Forest Service to provide access to inexpensive federal land where worker housing can be constructed.

Although the ski resorts are completely within their rights to seek federal assistance, the government should put those requests on hold until more is known about current welfare reform efforts. Most plans to end welfare as we know it encompass a work requirement. The two-years-and-out proposal means two more years on the dole and then it’s out into the work force. No more something for nothing for able-bodied Americans.

There are many jobs available now that welfare recipients feel are beneath them. And it’s hard to blame them when their welfare checks and other assistance programs can equal the buying power earned by many hard-working American families.

The ski resorts are seeking permission to hire more legal foreign workers to fill good-paying jobs that go begging. The United States currently accepts about 700,000 legal immigrants each year. These legal immigrants seldom have difficulty finding work. At the same time, approximately 3.4 million illegal immigrants annually risk their lives and suffer incalculable hardships to sneak into this nation of opportunity. They find and accept jobs spurned by Americans.

The welfare system can’t be blamed for single-handedly destroying the work ethic for a distressing number of Americans who feel certain forms of honest labor are beneath them. But less welfare and more work might help.

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