Day laborer jobs dry up in wilting economy

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11309593

By Jessie Mangaliman

Mercury News
Posted: 12/25/2008 03:57:07 PM PST

It had been four days since Francisco Castillo last worked, earning $10 an hour helping a San Jose family move. And the 35-year-old Mexican immigrant wasn't sure when his next job was going to come in at St. Joseph the Worker Center.

On a recent afternoon at the center, housed in an East San Jose warehouse that's been converted into a gathering place for day laborers, 50 workers were on the waiting list. At the rate jobs were trickling in, Castillo expected to wait about six more days before he reached the top of the job list again, he said over a lunch of canned corn, rice and sausages.


Victor Mendez is one of the day laborers training to do carpentry at the St.... ( Pauline Lubens )


Across the Bay Area, and in many such centers that serve documented and undocumented workers around the country, the global financial crisis is hitting the sector of local economies once powered by home improvement projects and construction. The day jobs that placed immigrant workers such as Castillo in the job market have all but dried up as the housing crisis forced many homeowners to forgo paying for gardening, housecleaning and other work they used to hire out.

Directors of day-labor programs across the Bay Area report a dramatic decline in jobs. At the same time more and more day laborers are seeking work and food. Like Castillo, many of the workers now coming into day-labor centers used to hold steady jobs.

Without employment, a growing number of the workers are relying more on local food banks, unable to send money to their families in Mexico and other countries in Latin America. Although there aren't any official estimates, center officials say that thousands of immigrants in California have returned to their home countries.

FULL story at link.