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Day laborers are unskilled or semi-skilled workers hired temporarily by construction companies, landscapers, and subcontractors. They can be found in parking lots, designated stations, or through contracting companies. The average workday is long and tiring, and few are offered permanent employment.
Construction companies, professional landscapers, and building subcontractors, among others, often employ a temporary workforce of unskilled or semi-skilled workers known as day laborers. Day workers are often assigned jobs served on the jobsite, such as unloading truckloads of supplies or keeping the area clear of debris. Some may work alongside regular employees as assistants, while others may be assigned their own independent job details.
Potential employers have several ways to find day laborers to hire. Some day laborers gather in the parking lots of home improvement stores and make themselves available for a day’s work. This practice may or may not be tolerated by the stores themselves, but some contractors hire several day workers to help unload their supplies or paint walls or other semi-skilled tasks. In this scenario, day laborers who agree to perform the work are paid directly by the contractor at the end of the workday.
Other day laborers gather at designated stations for similar job opportunities. Contractors can hire temporary workers and set a daily wage, usually the current federal minimum wage or the standard minimum pay rate for that industry. However, unscrupulous employers may offer desperate day laborers less than minimum wage, or else not pay them when the job is done. As there is no legal employment contract between the contractor and the day laborer, it would be very difficult for a poorly paid or unpaid worker to pursue legal remedies.
Perhaps the most common method for day laborers to find employment is through professional contract companies. These companies act as intermediaries between employers and temporary employees. Day laborers register with a contracting company and list their specific skills and work experience. They may be asked to report in person to the contractor’s offices each day to prove their availability. A company manager keeps these names on file until a potential employer requests workers.
Sometimes day laborers may be sent as a group on a large construction project, or just a few may participate in a small landscaping task. Certain day jobs may require a temporary worker to be in good physical condition, while others may expose day workers to adverse weather conditions or a hazardous work environment. The labor contractor may provide safety equipment such as hard hats, hearing protection or work gloves, but registered day laborers may also need to supply their own steel-toed work boots or weather gear.
The average workday for many day laborers is brutal, long and tiring. Only a few temporary workers are considered for permanent employment, mainly because the contract between the employer and the contracted company makes it financially difficult to permanently hire day laborers. Meanwhile, a day worker must remain available for any job assignment in order to earn a living wage. Day work can be very seasonal as many construction and landscaping companies have very few projects during late fall and winter.
Day laborers may be part of the shadow economy, but the work they do often helps others meet their own production goals or project deadlines. Without a steady supply of day laborers, many construction projects would fall far behind schedule as regular employees tried to fill the labor void.
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