[HPN] Low pay by City keeps working homeless in poverty: UI Chicago study FWD study FWD

[Tom Boland]

SOURCE: The University of Illinois at Chicago
        Center for Urban Economic Development's
        "A Fair Day's Pay" study.

FWD  Chicago Sun-Times / February 22, 2000

LOW PAY BY CITY KEEPS WORKING HOMELESS IN POVERTY

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES
BUSINESS REPORTER

    Most people living in homeless shelters in Chicago are employed, but
the day-labor jobs where they work don't pay enough to lift them out of
poverty, and the City of Chicago contributes to the problem, concludes a
new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

    The study examined the primary source of income for homeless adults and
was based on interviews and survey results from 510 homeless men and women.

    The study found that the City of Chicago indirectly was the largest
provider of work for day laborers, people who work through temporary
agencies or wait on street corners to secure manual labor jobs in
factories, warehouses, construction sites and other locations.

     More than one out of four respondents said they were assigned by day
labor employers to do maintenance work for the city in the last year,
according to the report, to be released today by UIC's Center for Urban
Economic Development.

    UIC teamed with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and other
community groups on the study.

    The study found that eight out of 10 day laborers earn less than $5.50
an hour. When time spent waiting for job assignments from day-labor
employers is factored in, the average wage falls to $4.12 an hour, the
report says.

    The Chicago Coalition faults the city in part for not enforcing the
Chicago Jobs and Living Wage ordinance, which guarantees that workers on
city contracts receive a minimum hourly wage of $7.60.

    "It appears that some, and perhaps many, day laborers employed on city
contracts are not being paid wages consistent with those called for by the
ordinance," says the report.

    It concludes that the city should investigate to ensure that day-labor
contractors are in compliance with the ordinance.

    A city spokesman did not return calls for comment.

    The study also found that 75 percent of homeless adults worked day
labor in the last year, a figure the UIC center's director, Nik Theodore,
said he hopes helps debunk some stereotypes about the homeless.

    "Common perceptions about homeless adults is that they aren't working,"
he said.

    "But 75 percent report they are, oftentimes in jobs that pay so little
or are unstable that they can't rise out of homelessness," Theodore said.

    According to the report, day laborers routinely arrive at their
agencies early in the morning in search of work, with 79 percent stating
they arrive before 6 a.m. They wait, often several hours, before beginning
paid employment. They aren't paid for time spent waiting to be assigned or
for travel time to and from job sites.

    "Many people are working and waiting many hours to get assignments, and
when that breaks down, they turn to selling newspapers [and panhandling],"
Theodore said. "But they never generate enough [income to break the cycle
of poverty]."

   The survey also found that:

* 42 percent of homeless day laborers expressed concerns about their
personal safety on the job.

* 77 percent of the laborers work alongside permanent employees, but for
less pay with no benefits.

* The laborers who work regularly earn less than $9,000 a year.

    "We have a tight labor market, but this other segment of the work force
say they aren't enjoying this boom," Theodore said.

    Casser Williams, a 32-year-old homeless man in Chicago, says he has
worked off and on as a day laborer but that he wants and needs more stable
work.

    "I mostly get minimum wage," he said. "I do it to make money, but I'm
looking for a full-time position."


     The report contends that although day labor provides income to
thousands of homeless men and women in Chicago "the very nature of day
labor fosters workers' dependency on low-wage, unstable work."

    But Labor Ready, a national firm with operations in Chicago that
employs many homeless people and others, takes issue with that assertion.

    "This is really a good labor market, so people have a choice as to
where they will go to work," said company spokeswoman Shannyn Roberts.

    "We serve as an opportunity for someone looking for a job. But we don't
encourage people to make this their home."

    At Labor Ready, the national average hourly wage is $6.50, Roberts
said. She couldn't provide figures for the Chicago metropolitan market.

    She said most workers tend to work for the company 100 hours on average
"and then move on."

    But results from the local survey found that many day laborers have
worked in the industry for years. Nearly half reported beginning work as a
day laborer before 1996.

DAY LABOR

82 percent earn less than $5.50 an hour.

Those who work regularly earn less than $9,000 a year.

27 percent have been assigned by day labor companies to do work for the
city in the last year.

77 percent work alongside permanent employees, but for less pay with no
benefits.

95 percent would prefer jobs with regularly scheduled hours, and half of
them say this work is the only job they could find.

SOURCE: The University of Illinois at Chicago
        Center for Urban Economic Development's
        "A Fair Day's Pay" study.

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