Day Labourers' Work Related Injuries: An Assessment of Risks, Choices, and Policies
| Published date | 01 June 2016 |
| Date | 01 June 2016 |
| Author | Abel Valenzuela,Nik Theodore,Edwin Meléndez,M. Anne Visser |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12042 |
Day Labourers’Work Related Injuries: An
Assessment of Risks, Choices, and Policies
Edwin Mel
endez*, M. Anne Visser**, Abel Valenzuela Jr*** and Nik Theodore****
ABSTRACT
Literature and theory surrounding the informal economy in international contexts suggest that
informal work arrangements may entail assuming various levels of risk, and that the higher the
level of risk in an employment arrangement, the higher the premium paid to the worker. This
study is designed to assess if a wage compensation for risk exists within the United States’day
labour job market - the most visible sector of the United States’informal economy. Using data
from the 2005 National Day Labour Survey we find a statistically significant wage premium indi-
cating that a risk-wage tradeoff within the day labour informal economy exists. Ultimately, we
argue that current policy interventions facilitated through day labour centres into the day labour
market appear to be effective in mitigating the risks associated with this type of employment.
•Evidence of a risk-wage premium in the day labour market suggests there is an incentive to
assume higher levels of risk in work arrangements which presents significant concerns for
worker safety.
•Higher levels of work related risks assumed by day labourers, may be minimized if they
receive proper safety training through a formal venue such as a worker centre.
•Worker centres only serve 20 per cent of all day labourers in the United States, suggesting
a need for the establishment of additional worker centres in other connected or industry
based work sites, to help mitigate potential work related risks and injuries in the day labour
market.
Day labourers are the most visible and vulnerable segment of the growing Latino immigrant work-
ing population in the United States (Valenzuela, 2001). Many are undocumented and concentrated
in informal work relationships, satisfying the increasing demand for contingent labour (Valenzuela,
2001). The concentration of day labours in informal work arrangements, which operate outside the
scope of formal labour laws and regulations, has been found to expose workers to precarious work
conditions including: hazardous environments, the witholding of wages, and abusive employment
relations (Losby et al., 2002; Theodore et al., 2009). Such realities, coupled with the inability of
day labourers to advocate or address their grievances through official legal channels due to their
undocumented status, makes them extremely vulnerable to exploitation by employers (Mehta and
* Hunter College, City University of New York.
* * University of California Davis.
*** University of California Los Angeles.
**** University of Illinois at Chicago.
doi: 10.1111/imig.12042
©2013 The Authors
Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., International Migration ©2013 IOM
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK, International Migration Vol. 54 (3) 2016
and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. ISSN 0020-7985
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