[ti:US Rural Population Losses Add to Farm Labor Shortages]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]The latest U.S. census
[00:03.20]-- the official counting of the country's people
[00:07.00]-- identified losses in America's rural population.
[00:12.52]The losses added to an already severe worker shortage
[00:18.56]in the country's farming and ranching areas.
[00:22.68]These industries have called for immigration reforms
[00:27.36]to help with the problem.
[00:30.24]The census information showed
[00:32.80]that small population gains in many rural areas
[00:37.96]were driven by increases in Hispanic and Latino residents.
[00:43.08]Many of them came as immigrants to work on farms
[00:47.44]or in meatpacking operations or to start their own businesses.
[00:52.72]"We've struggled on this issue for a long time
[00:56.88]to try to come up with a more reasonable,
[01:00.52]common-sense approach," said John Hansen.
[01:04.72]He is president of the Nebraska Farmers Union,
[01:09.20]which is a part of a group asking Congress for new immigration laws.
[01:15.36]Vilifying immigrants "just makes it harder to get there," Hansen said.
[01:21.72]The population changes are clear in Nebraska,
[01:25.80]where only 24 of the state's 93 counties gained residents.
[01:32.20]Of those 24, only eight reported an increase in the white population,
[01:38.76]suggesting most of the growth was driven by minorities, said David Drozd.
[01:45.80]He is a researcher with the University of Nebraska Omaha's
[01:50.72]Center for Public Affairs Research.
[01:53.80]Drozd examined the census information
[01:57.36]and found that Nebraska counties with more non-white immigrants
[02:02.36]are where most of the meatpacking operations are found.
[02:06.80]"In the rural areas, if you didn't have the Latino growth,
[02:11.16]employers would be struggling even more
[02:14.28]just to fill those positions," Drozd said.
[02:18.72]In New Mexico, populations decreased across 20 rural counties.
[02:25.20]Because there was a shortage of laborers for the yearly chile harvest,
[02:30.76]the state promised up to $5 million to increase pay
[02:36.60]for chile pickers and processors.
[02:39.68]Pay rates now reach nearly $20 an hour.
[02:44.40]Some Republican state legislators blame the lack
[02:48.12]of laborers on unemployment pay, which, they say,
[02:52.60]can affect whether a person chooses to work.
[02:56.32]Democrats see a continuing labor crisis.
[03:00.56]The New Mexico Chile Association trade group
[03:04.76]says the industry has a shortage of about 1,350 seasonal laborers.
[03:12.24]The problem is just as bad for chicken farmers in North Carolina,
[03:17.72]where meat processors support the economies of many rural communities.
[03:23.76]Half of the state's 100 counties have lost population since 2010,
[03:30.00]the census information showed.
[03:33.04]Bob Ford is executive director of the North Carolina Poultry Federation.
[03:39.00]He said labor shortages at chicken plants will only worsen
[03:43.68]as people continue to leave rural communities.
[03:47.44]Adding to the problem, he said, is the loss of migrant workers
[03:52.20]going to better paying jobs in other industries, such as building.
[03:57.56]Ford said while higher pay for workers
[04:00.84]and better health care and housing could help,
[04:04.04]changes to immigration policy would do a lot more
[04:07.64]to solve the labor shortage problem.
[04:10.28]The National Pork Producers Council
[04:13.24]is asking federal lawmakers to change visa programs
[04:17.60]so that migrant workers can remain employed longer.
[04:21.88]Bladen County, North Carolina,
[04:24.48]is home to the world's largest pork processing operation,
[04:29.60]Smithfield Foods' Tar Heel plant.
[04:33.16]Between 2010 and 2020,
[04:36.60]the county's population dropped by 15.9 percent.
[04:41.40]Bertie County, which is home
[04:43.92]to a large Perdue Farms chicken processing operation,
[04:48.36]saw a population decrease of 15.7 percent.
[04:53.44]In Kansas, some rural Republicans say
[04:57.32]Congress needs to find an answer.
[05:00.00]Nancy Weeks is secretary of the Haskell County Republican Party
[05:05.48]in southwestern Kansas.
[05:07.88]She said if immigrants living in the U.S. illegally
[05:11.60]want to move to the area and work, they should be given a way
[05:15.84]to gain legal status "so that they pay taxes like I do."
[05:20.92]"I don't have a problem with them coming here
[05:24.04]as long as they get legal," Weeks said.
[05:27.76]I'm Susan Shand. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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