Conor Finn
Blog Five
Professor Torres
Although having Jamaicans work in the United States during the summer, and in some situations for the rest of their lives is beneficial, employing migrant workers can have negative aspects. Today our country is in a recession and thousands of Americans are being laid off from work. With this happening migrant workers are taking jobs that Americans could be hired for. This situation is hurtful for both Americans and migrant workers because the recession leads to less job hiring for Jamaicans, and in return the culture that comes with these workers is lost. The recession is going to make landing a job extremely difficult, and the future may have less foreign workers than ever before.
Last summer Kennebunk acted and put a restriction upon the number of foreign workers allowed to live and work in the town for the summer. The town has the right to make such restrictions, but it is unfair to the thousands of workers that have been traveling to Kennebunk for years. For future summers the Jamaican culture in Kennebunk will be more intimate around the town. Decreasing the number of Jamaican summer residents will limit the interactions between them and town residents. Ultimately the culture will still be in Kennebunk but due to the recession and the town restrictions the Jamaican influence will not be as great as past years. I hope that the future will be brighter for the economy, summer Jamaican residents, and also the opportunities presented for working Jamaicans.
I find Conor's choice of blog topics to be extremely interesting. I have been to Maine many times and the first thing that crosses my mind as I enter the patron state of lobsters is not "I bet there is a growing number of Jamaican workers here". I was very surprised to learn of the many migrant workers in Kennebunk because of the thousands of miles in between the two locations. It seemed like an extraordinarily large distance to travel for seasonal work and I was also unsure of the job opportunities presented in Kennebunk. I've learned that Kennebunk is a town that is very active with tourism in the summer because of its nice overall setting and beautiful surroundings. The migrant workers come and find work in the service industry. In the service industry, the typical employee does not need a high level of education/training to land a job. Jamaicans make the long journey to Maine because they view it as an opportunity to attain power. They might not be able to find a job at home because of status, so they go to America where their status does not affect their ability to land a seasonal job. Conor lays this all out very clearly and his personal experience adds a real quality aspect to his blog and I have been able to learn from it.
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