Precarious Labor, (In)formality, and Exploitation
Although precarity seems to be an emerging character of work in recent decades, particularly in Western Europe and the United States, labor historians argue that precarious work has been the norm for human labor for most of the world’s history.[1] Two definitions of precarious work, include Standing’s precariat social category, defined by seven forms of labor security[2] and Cranford et al.’s, continuum of security along four criteria.[3] For this study, we use Kalleberg et al.’s definition, “employment that is uncertain, unpredictable, and risky from the point of view of the worker.”[4] Kalleberg and Hewison[5] conceptualize precarity as a process, instead of a continuum or a category, pointing to the relationships between labor, capital, and state which produce precarious work. This definition of precarity is most appropriate for our study because it is defined by the worker’s perception of precarity and opens a discussion into the level of formality or informality of work according to government law and its enforcement, which is a critically important aspect for the immigrant workers we interviewed. Informal labor describes jobs that do not offer standard terms, conditions, and benefits according to state law because the law does not pertain to these jobs or because the law is not enforced.[6]
Labor scholars argue that precarious labor is, in general, distinct in the contexts of the Global North and the Global South, particularly due to variations of local economy and national political structure. Whereby the criteria used to define labor as precarious in the Global North could be perceived as standard labor in the Global South.[7] This dichotomous comparison is critical to understanding the production of workers for precarious work in the Global North. By using a definition of precarity, from the worker’s standpoint,[8] production of workers for precarious work could be explained by workers perceiving the precarity of work as less important than an alternative situation, like life in another country or inability to immediately provide for themselves or dependents. Campbell et al.[9] found that Italian temporary migrant workers to Australia did not report when they were paid lower than minimum wage requirements because underpayment of wages was less important to the workers than their long-term migration goals of working in a better labor market than they had experienced in Italy.
While formality of labor exploitation under the state varies in different contexts, labor exploitation has always existed and been economically justified through identifying and differentiating categories of people. For our purposes, exploitation refers to a situation whereby taking advantage of another entity, the actor doing the exploitation gains more than they deserve in the interaction and the exploited entity gets less than they deserve.[10] The distinction between the definitions of precarity, (in)formality, and exploitation are important for this research because the day laborers we interviewed did not always perceive precarity in their informal work, even if the wage theft they experienced was exploitative because they viewed it in the context of their migration histories. Moreover, consistent with general strain theory,[11] anecdotally, some the employers who were doing the exploiting through wage theft, had also experienced exploitation through production in the supply chain. Conceivably, some specific situations, like workplace injuries or workplace safety violations, would likely not always result in the employer getting more than they deserve from taking advantage of a worker.
All workers dependent on low-wage jobs are at a higher risk of labor exploitation than workers with job security and living wages[12]. However, undocumented workers (specifically) and migrant workers working in short-term, low-wage jobs are even more likely to be exploited by employers. When anti-immigration laws are strengthened, wage theft increases.[13] Even in places where there are legal protections for low-wage workers, employers deter workers from using these protections by promising future payment and using confusing payment processes to obfuscate ongoing wage theft.[14]
Our study reflects the labor market position of workers similar to Syed’s “Market Migrants” in Canada.[15] Market migration is a result of intentional low-wage labor recruitment from migrant and racialized groups that have historically been used to create a labor surplus for exploitation and capitalist accumulation. Racialized production and economic migration are the result of institutional state exploitation.[16] Capitalism requires exploitation of people’s labor, and racial capitalism articulates the people that will be exploited to build the nation. To the extent that precarious labor continues to exist at different levels of formality speaks to the way that the nation state needs racialized capitalism to build and define itself.[17]
After the 1990 Immigration Act, which drastically decreased the number of legal low-wage immigrants permitted into the U.S.,[18] unauthorized immigration steadily increased until the Great Recession in 2008. Over the last decade, undocumented migration to the U.S. is reported to have decreased,[19] yet economic inequality and precarious labor has arguably increased during the same period. While day laborers, especially in Texas, tend to be undocumented immigrants from Latin American countries,[20] the day laborer pool includes immigrants of varying legal statuses, U.S. born citizens, and people from other racial backgrounds.[21] In Texas, the last two decades included the Great Recession in 2008, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in 2019, and most recently the COVID-19 Pandemic, which have all increased the precarity of day labor.
Wage Theft and Worksite Safety for Immigrant Laborers in the United States
Workplace safety and wage theft issues, especially in low wage work, remains largely overlooked in addressing human rights and economic equality under capitalism and globalization. [22] In the United States, the minimum wage was established by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938[23] – or the Wages and Hours Bill – and meant to provide a social safety net. Even so, wage theft, or the denial of rightful compensation of labor, is one of the most common crimes in the US and one of the most prevalent forms of labor exploitation worldwide.[24]
When workers experience wage theft, they often receive payment, usually in cash, but the payment is a fraction of the amount originally agreed upon, typically verbally, by both parties.[25] In addition, employers often see immigrant labor as an opportunity to pay less than agreed upon wages[26] or less than the wages of non-immigrant workers for the same work.[27] Workers are generally unaware of how to address wage theft, have less equitable access to resources to address wage theft, and are also unaware of how effective attempts to address wage theft might be.[28] Workers navigate a cycle of agency and vulnerability, at times, making decisions that trade-off the chance of providing for basic needs against worse alternatives. Laborers will risk exploitation by an employer to have the chance of earning something. The alternative is often a day without pay. Inadequate workplace safety, and the resulting hazards and injury, is the second most common form of labor exploitation.[29]
Both forms of exploitation emerge from a culture among employers of optimizing their returns and devaluing the contributions of their workers. Indeed, workers are assumed to be another resource consumed through work. Moreover, operational policies that focus on short term cost minimization lead to shortcuts in workplace management and a delegation of responsibility for, or an insufficient regard for safety.[30]
Although there is not a universal definition for low wage work, a job that pays less than two-thirds of the median wage for the industry, provides limited opportunity for career advancement, has inconsistent scheduling, and offers no employment benefits is classified as ‘low wage’.[31] Domestic work – including childcare, home aids and personal aids- make up a large part of the low-wage workforce, with women making up the majority of domestic laborers. [32]
Construction is one of the largest industrial sectors in the global economy as it accounts for about eleven percent of global GDP. The sector is characterized by low barriers of entry, low-wages, hazardous work (the International Labor Office defines construction as one of the most hazardous sectors for workers), and a disproportionate share of migrant workers. The on-the-job risks are particularly alarming in the state of Texas where death rates of construction workers are the highest in the US. Nearly half of the excess mortality rates were in specialty construction services who are often hired as independent contractors, making them responsible for their own personal protective equipment. Many of these employees are undocumented immigrants, largely from Latin America. Consequently, construction is one of the main sectors in which workers are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking. Indicatively, a lack of visa portability, withholding of passports, and high recruitment fees are some of the risks contributing to the increased vulnerability of migrant construction workers.[33]
Specifically, in the US, most construction firms are small to medium enterprises employing fewer than ten employees, while around three million construction workers are self-employed. In this employment landscape, the industry is characterized by informal, part-time, and temporary working relationships with production work often subcontracted. The subcontracted firms often employ temporary workers on a per project basis. The archetype temporary worker at this depth in the labor supply chain is the day laborer, the focus of this study. As these workers are lacking financial security and are often socially stigmatized due to their migratory[34] or worker status, they can be easily intimidated, are more prone to accept dangerous working conditions and are more likely to be exploited.[35]
In Texas, the Department of Labor and the Texas Workforce Commission both provide ways for workers to report wage theft and all contracted labor, including undocumented laborers, are subject to and protected by labor codes assuring minimum wage.[36] Law enforcement officers investigating such cases are thus allowed to enforce workers’ rights to wages without having to know the citizenship status of the workers. However, immigrant workers, and especially those who are undocumented, are unlikely to report stolen wages. Especially with the use and coverage of a policy like SB-4 in Texas that allows law enforcement officers to ask anyone to show them their papers, employers can take for granted that undocumented workers won’t pursue lost wages through formal means.
Worker Center Interventions
Worker centers are formal, community based, and community run organizations that provide support to day laborers through services, education, and advocacy[37]. Day labor worker centers have emerged as a response to the exploitation of day laborers in the United States and the marginalization workers experience in the communities where they look for work[38]. These centers are one mechanism to impose formal regulation of the informal market, providing a space and resources to the workers that can increase their security as the operate as ‘entrepreneurs’ of their own labor[39]. The success of these centers can vary based on a variety of factors, like location[40], funding, and worker engagement[41].
Frantz and Fernandes[42] argue that worker center funding model is critical to the organization’s ability to serve day laborer needs. In the 1990s, philanthropic foundations adopted strategic funding practices from the finance industry to monitor their relationship with nonprofits, meaning that funders saw grants as investments and nonprofits as entrepreneurs to be audited, even though nonprofits inherently are not supposed to prioritize profits. The neoliberal logic of these foundations leads to social and political programming meant to shape day laborers into morally acceptable economic citizens.[43] These worker centers that are regularly funded by the same large external foundations, tend to have less politically contentious goals to maintain a good relationship with their funders. Instead, they develop programs to promote workforce development, financial training, and entrepreneurship through employer relationships. Despite these concerns, worker centers are regarded as the generally acceptable response[44] to the most common problems that informal, low-wage workers face, most notably wage theft.
Most day laborers work outside the scope of formal labor regulations and laws that have been put in place to protect workers from hostile work environments[45] – abusive employers, wage withholding, unsafe environments and lack of training. Furthermore, formal workplace policies provide an avenue for reporting abuse that is inaccessible or unknown to day laborers, making them even more vulnerable to continued exploitation. Safety training, seminars, and equipment can ensure a safer worker place environment, but such resources are rarely provided by employers in the informal sectors. Worker centers can provide interventions to ensure such precautions are allocated to the workers.
Worker centers can provide a wide range of services[46]- operating hiring centers, facilitating communication between employers and employees, educating workers on their rights, offering translation services for non-English speakers, and addressing the need for basic hygiene services, from showers to bathrooms. Worker centers can address more than the needs of the individual workers; the centers provide an avenue for the integration of the informal labor of day laborers into the local economy, promoting the standards set by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for any workspace[47] – minimum wage, safe work environment, filling claims and providing adequate training. By formalizing the day laborer’s workspace and simultaneously introducing information to the workers about what their work conditions should be, worker centers can address exploitation by decreasing the tolerance of workers towards any sort of mistreatment. [48]
While labor market interventions – especially safety training – are effective in mitigating the risks associated with day laborers when presented by community integrated worker centers, the extent of such interventions is entirely dependent on the day laborer engagement[49]. Worker centers alone serve only 20% of all day laborers in the United States; although there is great potential for the impact in reducing exploitation among day labors[50], policymakers must consider bolstering the outreach of these enters by placing centers in established sites within the day labor communities[51], such as Home Depots, nurseries, constructions sites and other business where employers and day labors frequent.
[1] Mosoetsa, S., Stillerman, J. & Tilly, C. “Precarious Labor, South and North: An Introduction,” International Labor and Working-Class History 89 (ed 2016): 5–19, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0147547916000028.
[2] Standing,G. (2014). “The Precariat,” Contexts 13(4): 10–12, https://doi.org/10.1177/1536504214558209.
[3] Cranford, C.J., Vosko, L.F., & Zukewich, N. (2003). “Precarious Employment in the Canadian Labour Market: A Statistical Portrait.,” Just Labour, https://doi.org/10.25071/1705-1436.164.
[4] Kalleberg, A.L. (2009). “Precarious Work, Insecure Workers: Employment Relations in Transition,” American Sociological Review 74(1): 1–22, https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240907400101.
[5] Kalleberg, A.L., & Hewison, K. (2013). “Precarious Work and the Challenge for Asia,” American Behavioral Scientist 57(3): 271–88, https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764212466238.
[6] Mosoetsa, Stillerman, and Tilly, “Precarious Labor, South and North.”
[7] Hammer, A. & Ness, A. (2021). “Informal and Precarious Work: Insights from the Global South,” Journal of Labor and Society 24(1): 1–15, https://doi.org/10.1163/24714607-20212000; Mosoetsa, Stillerman, and Tilly, “Precarious Labor, South and North.”
[8] “Comment on Hekman’s ‘Truth and Method: Feminist Standpoint Theory Revisited’: Truth or Justice?,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 22, no. 2 (January 1, 1997): 367–74, https://doi.org/10.1086/495161.
[9] Iain Campbell et al., “Precarious Work and the Reluctance to Complain: Italian Temporary Migrant Workers in Australia,” Labour & Industry: A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work 29, no. 1 (January 2, 2019): 98–117, https://doi.org/10.1080/10301763.2018.1558895.
[10] Dahan, &., Lerner, H., & Milman-Sivan, F. (2011). “Global Justice, Labor Standards and Responsibility,” Theoretical Inquiries in Law 12(2) https://www-degruyter-com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/document/doi/10.2202/1565-3404.1275/html.
[12] Valdez, Z., Plankey-Videla, N., Murga, A. L., Menchaca, A. C., & Barahona, C. (2019). “Precarious Entrepreneurship: Day Laborers in the U.S. Southwest,” American Behavioral Scientist, 63(2).
[13] Salas-Chacon, D. “Effects of Senate Bill 4 on Wage-Theft: Why All Workers Are at Risk in Low-Income Occupations” 20, no. 3 (2018), 42; Lee, J. “Redefining the Legality of Undocumented Work,” California Law Review 106 (2018), 16-17.
[14] Mirchandani, K., and M.S. Bromfield. “Roundabout Wage Theft: The Limits of Regulatory Protections for Ontario Workers in Precarious Jobs.” Journal of Labor and Society 22 (3) (2019), 661–77.
[15] Syed, I.U. (2015). “Labor Exploitation and Health Inequities Among Market Migrants: A Political Economy Perspective,” Journal of International Migration and Integration / Revue de l Integration et de La Migration Internationale 17 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-015-0427-z.
[16] Wright, M.W., Disposable Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism, 1st edition (New York: Routledge, 2006); Glenn, E.N. “From Servitude to Service Work: Historical Continuities in the Racial Division of Paid Reproductive Labor,” Signs 18, no. 1 (1992): 1–43.
[17] Ferguson, R.A. Aberrations In Black: Toward A Queer Of Color Critique (University of Minnesota Press, 2003).
[18] Chishti, M., & Yale-Loehr, S. (2016). The Immigration Act of 1990: Unfinished Business a Quarter-Century Later. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/1990-Act_2016_FINAL.pdf.
[19] Passel, J.S., and D. Cohn. (2018). U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Total Dips to Lowest Level in a Decade: Number from Mexico continues to decline, while Central America is the only growing region. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2018/11/27/u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-total-dips-to-lowest-level-in-a-decade/
[20] Tabory, S., Engle, K., Blas, J., Hoad, N., Patel, S., & Bass, M. (2021). “COVID-19, Structural Inequality, and the Past and Future of Low-Income Latinx Construction Workers in Austin, Texas.” The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice. https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2020/11/ATX-Construction-and-COVID_FINAL-REPORT.pdf
[21] Valdez, et al, “Precarious Entrepreneurship.”
[22] Bittle, S., and L. Snider. (2018). “How Employers Steal from Employees: The Untold Story.” Social Justice 45(2): 119–146; Harkins, B. “Base Motives: The Case for an Increased Focus on Wage Theft against Migrant Workers.” Anti-Trafficking Review, Everyday Abuse in the Global Economy, 15 (2020), 42–62.
[23] Grossman, J. (1978). Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage, (Washington DC : US Department of Labor).
[24] Hallett, N. “The Problem of Wage Theft,” Yale Law & Policy Review 37 (2019-2018), 93.
[25] Fussell, E. “The deportation threat dynamic and victimization of Latino migrants: Wage theft and robbery.” The Sociological Quarterly 52 (4) (2011), 593-615.
[26] Salas-Chacon, “Effects of Senate Bill 4 on Wage-Theft: Why All Workers Are at Risk in Low-Income Occupations”; Theodore, N. “Day Laborers in the Eye of the Storm,” NACLA Report on the Americas, 52(2) (2020), 192–98.
Lee, “Redefining the Legality of Undocumented Work”.
[27] Fussell, “The deportation threat dynamic and victimization of Latino migrants: Wage theft and robbery.”
[28] Theodore, “Day Laborers in the Eye of the Storm”.
[29] Theodore, “Day Laborers in the Eye of the Storm”.
[30] Wright, Disposable Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism.
[31] Boushey, H., Fremstad, S., Gragg, R., & Waller, M. (2007). Understanding Low-Wage Work in the United States. (Washington, DC: Center for Economic and Policy Research).
[32] Poblete, L. (2021). “Decent Work for Domestic Workers in Argentina.” Journal of Labor and Society 24(2):187-213
[33] Acuna Arreaza, M., Baldazo-Tudon, K., and M.I.M. Torres. (2019). A Year of Labor Abuse: A Visual Report of Rights Violations Faced by Houston Workers (Houston, TX: Fe y Justicia Worker Center).
[34] Florido, A. “Advocates Struggle to Help Undocumented Immigrants Find Relief After Harvey.” NPR, September 5, 2017.
[35] Soni, S. “Post-hurricane rebuilding will be done by undocumented workers - and they need protection.” LA Times, October 12, 2017.
[36] Texas Payday Law §§ 61.001 – 61.095 (1995).
[37] https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1275&context=nyls_law_review
[38] Visser, M. A., Theodore, N., Melendez, E. J., & Valenzuela, A. (2017). From economic integration to socioeconomic inclusion: day labor worker centers as social intermediaries. Urban Geography, 38(2), 243–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2016.1168574
[39] Valenzuela Jr, A. (2001). Day labourers as entrepreneurs? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 27(2), 335-352.
[40] Crotty, S. M., & Bosco, F. J. (2008). Racial geographies and the challenges of day labor formalization: A case study from San Diego County. Journal of Cultural Geography, 25(3), 223-244.
[41] Fine, J. (2005-2006). Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream, 50 N.Y.L. SCH. L. REV.
[42] Frantz, C., & Fernandes, S. (2018). Whose movement is it? Strategic philanthropy and worker centers. Critical Sociology, 44(4-5), 645-660.
[43] Grajeda, E.D. (2021). Worker centres and coming out politics in migrant struggles. Citizenship Studies, 1-19.; Grajeda, E.D. (2019). Immigrant Worker Centers, Technologies of Citizenship, and the Duty to Be Well. Critical Sociology, 45(4-5), 647-666.
[44] Theodore, N. (2020). Regulating informality: Worker centers and collective action in day‐labor markets. Growth and Change, 51(1), 144-160.
[45] González, A. L. (2015). Formalizing day labor markets: Worker centers and worker integration (Doctoral dissertation, UCLA).
[46] Fine, J. Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream.
[47] Theodore, N., Valenzuela, A., & Meléndez, E. (2009). Worker centers: Defending labor standards for migrant workers in the informal economy. International Journal of Manpower.
[48] Visser, M. A., Theodore, N., Melendez, E. J., & Valenzuela, A. (2017). From economic integration to socioeconomic inclusion: day labor worker centers as social intermediaries. Urban Geography, 38(2), 243–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2016.1168574
[49] Meléndez, E., Visser, A.M., Valenzuela, A., & Theodore, N. (2016). Day Labourers’ Work Related Injuries: An Assessment of Risks, Choices, and Policies. International Migration, 54(3), 5-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12042
[50] Meléndez, et al, “Day Labourers’ Work Related Injuries”.
[51] Visser, M. Anne, & Melendez, Edwin J. (2015). Working in the new low wage economy: Understanding participation in low wage employment in the recessionary era. Working USA, 18(1), 7–29.