The concept follows the approach of TransFair USA, which certifies bananas and other products as being grown and marketed according to standards that protect workers. A TransFair USA background paper explains,

Fair Trade certification ensures that farmers receive a fair price for their top-quality fruit, and that farm workers have good working conditions and receive fair wages. Without Fair Trade certification, small fruit farmers often receive only a few cents a pound for their crop, far below the cost of production.

In January 2004, TransFair USA signed up Wild Oats Markets as the first chain to stock certified bananas. Along with the expected plug for supporting workers, TransFair USA explained its program in terms that would make Ayn Rand happy:

Fair Trade Certified� products provide a point of differentiation for companies offering them. They also help companies build customer loyalty and tap into new consumer segments. With this initiative, Wild Oats Markets increases its industry-leading Fair Trade commitment. The Boulder, Colo.-based food retailer also sells Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolate, and expects to add other Fair Trade produce items in the future.

If products can be certified and promoted as a point of market differentiation, why not the workforce? Just as consumers can vote with their dollars for certified bananas, they may appreciate the option of spending their dollars with a workforce certified to be legally employable in the United States. Let's call it the Certified Workforce solution.

The concept is simple: TransFair USA or another independent group would monitor a company and certify that its workers are all either US citizens or legally authorized to work in the US. I always thought the US government and state labor departments did chores like that, but evidently they're not doing too good a job, so let's try a free-market solution.

Companies that pass the stringent certification process can then use a logo to tell consumers that they are a "100% certified legal-to-work shop" or some other snappy description. Groups like the AFL-CIO, which already has its "Union Label" program, might get behind this approach. Companies' prices might rise, but they could argue they're paying higher wages, providing benefits and protection, and doing their part to combat unemployment among citizens and green-card holders. Consumers thereby gain the option of supporting such companies, or continuing to spend at others that decline to take part.

The companies that take a pass can also gain a marketing advantage among consumers who tolerate the idea of shopping at companies that employ illegal aliens at sub-minimum wages. Or, non-certified companies could argue they support worker privacy, the international proletariat, open borders, or some other rationalization.

The Certified Workforce approach deals with illegal immigration on the demand side -- jobs. Reduce the number of jobs and you reduce the incentive to migrate here. Why be miserable and unemployed in the US when you can be miserable and unemployed in Latin America? Of course, the US offers many non-employment related lifestyle advantages, but that's another essay.

The program also gives consumers a voice in the illegal immigration debate. Currently, I don't have a choice when I shop. No mechanism informs me of the status of a workforce, which is one important factor when I make consumer choices.

If such a program catches on, consumers can indicate whether they care about illegal immigration. If they do, then companies with the Certified Workforce will gain a market advantage; if consumers prefer to look the other way and pay lower prices in exchange for the oppression of underpaid illegal immigrants, then the program fails and we can drop all pretense of logically addressing the issue.

In either case, let's give it a try. If certification can work for bananas, it can work for workers.