The Other Side of the Coin

``In a time of widespread joblessness, Mexicans in New York have proved unusually adept at finding and keeping work. Of the city’s 10 largest immigrant groups, they have the highest rate of employment and are more likely to hold a job than New York’s native-born population, according to an analysis of the most recently available census data. They are even employed at a greater rate than Mexicans nationwide.''

``Agustín, 45, who lives in Apartment 1A with four other men, left his wife and children behind in Mexico when he came to the United States in 2006 to find work. He spent most of the first few years picking up construction work around Brooklyn. But with the downturn in housing construction, he looked elsewhere, finding a job this year at a supermarket in Bensonhurst.

He now works 12 hours a day, seven days a week, he said, and is paid $4 an hour, more than $3 below the minimum wage. He sends whatever he can back to Mexico.

“I have a family, so I have to work,” he said late on a recent Sunday as he returned from his shift. He looked ragged.

“If I don’t work,” he said, “they don’t eat.” ''

NYT

For every crooked politician of Mexican descent (below) there are ten hard working Mexicans. The US ends up winning.