Examining the Day-Labor Trade
For many members of the working class, the Covid-19 pandemic is in the rearview mirror – but not without the warning label that “objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” In fact, it would not be surprising if business owners – big or small – are petrified of a pandemic outbreak lurking. In a sense, it bought about a reform in labor.
The day labor industry is one labor market that is often overlooked. Personally though, a period during Covid-19 drove me to take an unbiased gaze, along with giving the unusual opportunity a chance.
By definition, day labor is a form of contingent – non-contracted – work where laborers are hired on a daily basis with daily pay. Traditionally, a strict characteristic of the field was that a guarantee to be hired for more service does not exist. It is in that way that day labor differs from staffing or temporary assignment work.
Artisans are credited with predating the American Industrial Revolution, and Labor Reform Movement as the first to hire day laborers during the Colonial Era. And then, with the emergence of labor unions in the 1800’s the industry grew in popularity; again, this predates the Labor Reform Movement that instituted laws regulating child labor.
Today, the trade is much more regulated, including by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), along with local offices such as HireQuest, Trojan Labor, Action Labor, and others. U.S. DOL recognizes worker’s rights as it pertains to minimum wage, hours worked, overtime and record-keeping.
And speaking of reform, the internet has opened workers to a massive option for day and project-based quick-pay. For example, websites like Fiverr, offer freelance and tech professionals a platform to connect online and produce creditable work with quick turnaround for pay. Unquestionably such platforms – including digital transactions- experienced increase during the world’s most recent pandemic. Unashamedly, tons of companies met the challenge and remain to tell the story. This method of working, however, has not seen reform in regulations yet.
Due to stigmas surrounding the appearance of instability, the day labor trade has been frowned upon and counted as inferior to common hiring and employment in some areas. The consequence of misconception leads to a small pool of employers with high numbers of jobseekers. This translates to rejecting workers then gaps in employment.
Transportation is a common accommodation for this market, because, on average, any possibility of prolonged employment is largely dependent on reliable transportation. The drift is that employers perceive it as a risk to contract employees that are unable to get to the office.
In a newsletter article, I discussed remote work and particularly in the Covid-19 era. Traditional day labor concept omits remote work options. But as I mentioned, the world-wide-web answered the call to keep folks employed from the January 2020 US outbreak to even now.
Labor For hire opponents claim that workers are treated unfairly in unsafe conditions and, lastly, abused due to their impoverished conditions. Minorities, including Black and Latino races, make up a large number of workers. By comparison, this was the same population who was rejected by unions and failed behind in the labor reform movement in less industrial marketplaces.
A less talked-about reform to non-contractual vocation occurred since the Industrial revolution and prior to the rise of coronavirus. And it dares to continue to thrive post-Covid. That is the “Gig Economy.” Skilled individuals are leasing their own talents, often on an in-person basis with the assistance of technology. By comparison, hiring agents and/or recruiters are creating profiles, job-matching and linking unemployed people in fields where they are anticipated to thrive. This care is not typically taken if placed for day-to-day work.
The debate over how far such employment takes an honest person will go unsolved today. The scales read on one half that you cannot obtain permanency as a day-laborer, but on the other half the pay schedule is the primary means to the end at hand. The other, and final, matter also, is that the regulation of this industry itself could stand a ton of reform and attention to truly combat deeper issues.
~TS Mitchell
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