Vol. 71/No. 46      December 10, 2007

With home prices continuing to decline, construction companies have cut back on home building, leading to the loss of some 124,000 construction jobs since September 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among those most affected are immigrant day laborers.

The New York Sun interviewed day laborers in Queens in November. Luis Pérez, originally from Ecuador, said some weeks he only gets one day’s work. He and others used to make $100 to $120 a day doing construction, but now such jobs are scarce and employers frequently pay them only $50 to $60. Some demolition jobs pay only $30 a day. Enrique Ortíz, born in Mexico, told the Sun that some day laborers he knows have become homeless because they can no longer afford to pay rent.

The Financial Times reported that the drop in wages and hours worked by Mexican immigrants in the U.S. construction industry is having a big effect on their families back in Mexico who depend on their remittances. Mexicans working in the United States send back more than $20 billion a year to Mexico. Remittances grew 23 percent in the first quarter of 2006 compared to the same period the previous year. But during the first six months of 2007 they increased by a mere 0.6 percent year-on-year.

Fannie Mae, the mortgage funding company, expects “significant increases” in foreclosures and home loan delinquencies in 2008, the Washington Post reported. There were 635,159 foreclosure filings in the third quarter of this year, “one for every 196 households” according to a report in the Lexington Herald Leader. Fannie Mae’s expenses for delinquent loans and foreclosures increased six-fold during the same period.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the housing crisis has affected not only construction workers, but workers in retail outlets like building supply stores and employees in the credit and loan industry. Overall, the official national unemployment rate remained at 4.7 percent in October.

Worker productivity was up, at a 4.9 percent annual rate, from July to September, the fastest pace in four years—a result of the employers’ drive to speed up production and squeeze more labor out of workers. But wages remain stagnant. In October average hourly earnings increased by only 3 cents.

The average price of a gallon of gas nationally was $3.08 the first week of November, 87 cents more than a year ago. A gallon of milk costs on average $3.84, 79 cents more than a year ago. Eggs are up 46 percent.

With workers having less and less disposable income, most U.S. department store chains reported weak sales this fall. But sales at Saks, the luxury store, were booming—a 15.9 percent increase in October compared to a year ago.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home