Day Labor

This state of California was once part of Mexico, now the country beneath the U.S. Although the land was now owned by the American Government, the Mexican people never left . To this day more than half of residents in California are immigrants and almost all of them Hispanic. These immigrant workers come from their home countries south of the boarder to try and make a better living for themselves and their families. To them California is the land of dreams and opportunities and they will do anything to get here and make a living. These people work hard, they work long, and they work for almost no wage freelancing in small groups finding odd jobs that wherever they can. Yet most of these immigrants live a better life here, doing what “citizen” will for half the money, than they would back in their home country. These immigrant workers do come here to better their own life but do they simultaneously contribute to California’s Economy? California was built on immigrant workers that came here and opened up a world of opportunities to families running from poverty, war, or hunger if not all. California would not be the culture rich superpower that it is today, as one of the biggest, economically rich, and most populated regions on earth. California needs the contribution that these immigrants have on its economy. The average minimum wage worker in California gets paid $6.75 an hour for their Munoz 2 services. Yet this wage is not a “living wage” says Elvia Jackson a published writer, “California needs a fair minimum wage for everyone”. An average immigrant worker gets about half of that per hour he or she works by freelancing on the streets. These immigrant workers get up as early as they can to be able to be the first ones to wherever it is they usually get work from, weather it be in from the corner at Seven Eleven or the Home Depot parking lot. These people stand all day hoping for someone to come by and give them work for almost any pay. It amazing how little they are willing to get paid for the services they will do in for their bounty. So how is it that these immigrants workers come here to earn money for a better living, getting paid close to almost nothing for what they do, and still have enough to save up? These are not the best livable wages here in California but it does say something when one can see that that an immigrant worker can live a moderate life style and still have enough money left over to send to their family. Although these people are sending their profits back to their loved ones in other countries and not letting the profits cycle back into the economy, they are still making a big contribution to the economy itself just by performing hard labor services at half the cost. Its almost like having a third world country sweatshop delivery service right at home, except without sweatshop.