First Advisor

Garza, Lisa

Second Advisor

Roth, James

College

Regis College

Degree Name

BA

School

Regis College Senior Honors Program

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

91 pages

Abstract

Day labor is an important and rapidly growing part of the United States economy although it is highly informal and unregulated. The nation's leading scholar of day labor, Abel Valenzuela Jr. (2003: 307) in a review of literature surrounding day labor claims: No formal definition of day labor exists, although the term is mostly used to convey a type of temporary employment that is distinguished by hazards in or undesirability of the work, the absence of fringe and other typical workplace benefits (i.e. breaks, safety equipment), and the daily search for employment. Day labor work employs large numbers of immigrants and other people from society's margins. Jornaleros, as day laborers are known in Spanish, can be found gathered in urban settings at for-profit temp agencies, non-profit workers' centers, or simply on street corners soliciting work for the day. As visible as these workers may be on your local street corner or in front of the nearest home improvement retail location, they are often over-looked by the average U.S. citizen. Due to a number of factors, day laborers are often taken advantage of by those who employ them. Valenzuela (2003) comments on the factors that make them one of the most exploited classes of workers in our society: "Most day laborers are male, foreign born, recently arrived and unauthorized, and have low levels of education and a poor command of English. As a result, the participants in this industry are highly vulnerable and exploited" (p. 307).

Date of Award

Spring 2007

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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