From the Department of “Duh”, Employment Edition

A new report which doubtlessly required millions of dollars to produce has determined that low wage workers are exploited by their employers all too often:

Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, also found that 68 percent of the workers interviewed had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week.

If we had reporters, scholars of labor law, or legislators who’d actually worked for low wages, it might not have come as so much of a surprise. Presumably, this is why we need lots more people who’ll work for low wages as is urged on us on practically a daily basis by advocates from the Wall Street Journal to The Nation.

The one, singular important thing that should be recognized in this is that new legislation won’t do a thing to reduce this sort of offense. It’s already against the law. This is an enforcement problem and if Congress had 10% as much commitment to enforcing the laws it passes as it does to passing new laws reports like this would have very different findings.

I’d actually go a little farther: part of the attraction of low wage workers, particularly those who are illegal immigrants is that they can be exploited.

14 comments… add one
  • PD Shaw Link

    I think you buried the lede, Dave. 39% of those surveyed were illegal immigrants. What next? Illegal immigrants find it difficult in America to run for political office? I find it completely inexplicable to include illegals in such a survey, not because I don’t think they are exploited, but their whole job is a legal violation. And I’m left to assume that when 26% didn’t get paid minimum wage last week, it was because they were illegal workers to begin with. Inexplicable.

    Also, over 30% of those surveyed were legal immigrants. I’d like to know how many don’t speak English and are subject to the coercion of someone who does.

  • Brett Link

    I find it completely inexplicable to include illegals in such a survey, not because I don’t think they are exploited, but their whole job is a legal violation.

    It’s odd, but if you’re trying to get the most accurate picture possible of the low-wage worker group, you’ve probably got to include them – they’re a significant-sized group.

    Enforcement is definitely part of it, Dave – although a big part of it is simply letting the workers know that certain types of things are out of bounds, and that they can report it and not suffer due to it. In order to stop this thing (aside from actual immigration reform and enforcement), we really need to make sure that all such workers know their rights and who they can contact.

  • When you read the report you’ll see that it also found that legal low wage workers were treated little better than illegal ones.

    Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that we can arrive at reasonable reforms in education, healthcare, labor relations, or a host of other domestic issues without resolving our immigration problems. It’s the dog in the manger.

  • PD Shaw Link

    I’ll look at the report. I don’t gnash my teeth about immigration like many do, but one of my main problems with illegal immigration is the exploitation and my main concern with legal immigration is assimilation — people who don’t speak English, entering the country through some marriage of dependency or cluster around ethnic enclaves, who similarly are exploitable. A study of workplace issues that is 69% immigrant is telling me more about immigration policy.

  • PD Shaw Link

    Dave, the violation rate for U.S. born workers in the survey was 15.6% and for foreign-born (both legal and illegal immigrants) it was 31.1%. The break-downs indicate that its mainly illegal immigrants, which can’t be surprising:

    17.5% – U.S. born male
    18.0% – U.S. born female

    13.5% – foreign born authorized male
    24.2% – foreign born authorized female

    29.5% – foreign born unauthorized male
    47.4% – foreign born unauthorized female

  • Brett Link

    my main concern with legal immigration is assimilation — people who don’t speak English, entering the country through some marriage of dependency or cluster around ethnic enclaves, who similarly are exploitable.

    Then you should be comforted by the fact that third-generation hispanics (which is what I assume you’re talking about) are highly assimilated (not surprising, seeing as how they and their parents are US citizens), and only a handful actually speak a language other than english (something like 4%).

    That’s actually pretty typical for assimiliation in a period of mass immigration, like what we had 100 years ago. People forget that for a long-time, there were some heavily German-speaking hold-outs in places like Wisconsin.

  • Drew Link

    Brett –

    I’ll accept your basic proposition that language assimilation historically has taken time. I live in Illinois (with lots of Wisconsin hours logged). Have lived in the NY metro area. Polish, Italian and German enclaves indeed have existed.

    But I must say I find those comparisons to So. Cal, So. Fla (adding in the Haitians) and Texas to be, well, bizarre. This is of a magnitude that defies comparison.

  • PD Shaw Link

    Brett, I am not concerned about long-term assimilation, just the near-term consequences, which in my mind include risk of slavery, prostitution or dependence on criminal gangs. These are risks from not speaking English or being isolated in an enclave. But this study is directed at low-paying, but legal, jobs, and doesn’t really get at what I was thinking about earlier.

  • PD Shaw Link

    What I found interesting about the report was that the study doesn’t rely upon the worker’s assertion that their rights had been violated. Through constant interviews of the events of the day, the researchers identified violations. I think this suggests the first enforcement problem — if the workers don’t know their rights, how likely is it they they will be enforced?

    Also, some of these workplace violations, like meal break violations and off-the-clock violations, can be pretty minor and not necessarily obvious to the employer, let alone the employee.

  • Brett Link

    But I must say I find those comparisons to So. Cal, So. Fla (adding in the Haitians) and Texas to be, well, bizarre. This is of a magnitude that defies comparison.

    I don’t, and I’m just pointing out the statistics on it. I’d argue the Cubans in South Florida are an exception – they basically came over (largely middle-to-upper class) all in a mass, and gathered in a single area. That’s why they’ve held on to Spanish longer than most other hispanic groups do.

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