The Day Labor Market in Phoenix, Arizona Essay -- Business Economics U

The Day Labor Market in Phoenix, Arizona Introduction This paper focuses on the Macehualli Day Labor Union located in Phoenix, Arizona in the 85032 area. Throughout the history of the United States, illegal immigrants have come from all over the world to find work and a better way of life. It is estimated that right now there are about seven million illegal aliens living in America. About 69% of these illegal immigrants are Mexican and over 283,000 of them live in Arizona1. In this paper, we presuppose that the illegal aliens we refer to are Mexican. This is because the aliens living in the geographic area around the day labor center we examine are over 99% Mexican (Reza, 2003, personal interview). Many Mexicans risk everything they have, including their lives, in their attempts to cross the border and live the â€Å"American Dream.† Most immigrants are motivated by the lure of lucrative employment across the border. They come to this country with the hope of finding a higher paying job. In most cases, the immigrants are young men who leave their families behind, but intend to earn enough money to eventually bring their loved ones across (Reza, 2003, personal interview). Over the past three decades, the influx of illegal immigrants has become even more noticeable (Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1999). In the year 2000, unauthorized immigrants accounted for about 2.5% of the U.S. population2. These immigrants’ illegal status is a serious obstacle in their search for employment. Almost all employers require some proof of United States citizenship. For citizens and legal immigrants, this is easily established through a driver’s license or state identification card. Illegal workers, on the other hand, obvi... .... 11 Jun. 2003. Day Labor Union Workers. Personal Interview. 25 Oct. 2003 Gonzalez, Daniel. â€Å"Future Will Require Immigrants by Millions for Jobs, Report Says.† The Arizona Republic 31 Aug. 2003 : A6. Reza, Salvador (Director of the Macehualli Day Labor Union). Personal Interview. 25 Oct. 2003. Smart pages. 2 Dec. 2003 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. â€Å"Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: 1999 to 2000† 2 Dec. 2003 . U.S. Department of Labor. 2 Dec. 2003 minimumwage.htm>. Valenzuela, Abel Jr. â€Å"Day Labourers as Entrepreneurs?† Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 27.2 (2001) : 335-352 Valenzuela, Abel Jr. â€Å"Day Labor Work† Annual Review of Sociology 29 (2003) : 307-33