Day laborers go home as work in US dries up
LOS ANGELES - For more than two years, Otoniel Lopez Cortez arrived at the day labor center before 6:30 a.m. to wait for jobs painting houses. Some weeks he earned a few hundred dollars, enough to pay his rent and bills and send money home to Guatemala.
But after four months with only one day of work, Lopez made the decision this month to return to his native country.
"I don't want to go back, but there is no work," said Lopez, 18. "It's better to be with my family, even though we don't have much."
With the ongoing economic downturn and the collapse of the construction industry, day laborers in California are feeling the effects. Some immigrant workers are choosing to go home rather than wait for a rebound.
California's unemployment rate hit 7.3 percent last month, compared with 5.4 percent the previous July. The number of construction jobs dropped by 84,000 over the previous year, according to the state Employment Development Department.
Many unemployed construction workers, including citizens and legal residents, have turned to hiring halls for work, creating more competition for daily jobs, said Abel Valenzuela, a UCLA professor who has researched day laborers across the nation. There are also fewer jobs available for day workers, as Californians have less disposable income for moving, remodeling, painting, and landscaping.
In fact, Valenzuela said, anecdotal evidence shows that about 10 percent to 15 percent of the workers get hired daily, down from about 40 percent a few years ago.
On Lopez's last day, 58 workers showed up at a day laborer center near downtown Los Angeles. Only 11 got jobs.
"Things are really drying up," prompting day workers to start thinking about alternatives, Valenzuela said. "One of them is, clearly, to leave the United States."
The economy, along with increased border enforcement, may also be discouraging some migrants from coming to the United States. Apprehensions at the US-Mexico border this year are 17 percent below last year's, according to the Border Patrol.
Lopez said he sneaked across the border in 2006 to make a better life for himself and to earn money for his family. He also wanted to get away from the gang life that had consumed much of his youth.
He came to Los Angeles, where he started attending church, studying English, and making friends with other immigrant workers.
The Guatemalan Consulate gave him a bus ticket home.
On Aug. 22, the hiring hall - run by the Central American Resource Center - held a farewell lunch for Lopez. Director Jeronimo Salguero hugged him and presented him with a certificate honoring his work and time at the center.
Salguero said Lopez's departure was sad but not surprising. Given the choice between suffering in your own country or in another, he said, you might as well eat beans and be with your family. 