Politicians say the darndest thingsFollow

I wouldn't call it "ultra low". My recommended restriction would be a wage scale from 70% to 300% of the applicable minimum wage for those in the country under a guest worker visa program. That would allow enough range under the bottom scale to dig significantly into the demand for illegal labor, while still being high enough that the worker can live off it (even if frugally, but that's happening right now) and the employer unlikely to hire someone just for that lower wage if there's a better worker (say one who can speak fluent English) available who they'd have to pay the full minimum (again, this is also just a minimum, there's still a labor market out there that tends to drive wages higher than that). It would also allow enough ceiling for someone to improve their life condition enough to live comfortably if that's all they want, but also to learn skills sufficient to later acquire a full visa, or even support them sufficiently to gain citizenship, while also maintaining an incentive for doing that (the wage cap serves this purpose for those with the skills to hit it). I also would limit this to specific fields that are currently already pretty heavily targeted for work by illegals. These are pretty entirely out of the range of customer service jobs (due to language issues mostly) which is where most US low wage earners land.

Obviously, there would be details to work out, but I think some sort of program along these lines could work well. But yes, it would require at least some "below minimum" wage potential. Otherwise, you're not providing sufficient incentive for those currently here illegally (or planning to travel here illegally) to enter the program. What we want, ideally, is to eliminate any desire to enter the country illegally except for those who plan to engage in other illegal activities. Those just seeking work should be covered by the program. And that necessitates allowing for lower wages, since that's currently one of the primary benefits of hiring these people right now.

Edited, Sep 16th 2015 7:01pm by gbaji

Short version: Gbaji thinks that we should eliminate minimum wage. Same argument he had about using child labor.

Hey, we're slowly starting to treat one group better. Gotta punish another group to balance it out.