Approximately 117,600 workers are either looking for day-labor jobs or working as day laborers on any given day.
The vast majority (79%) of hiring sites are informal and include workers standing in front of businesses (24%), home improvement stores (22%), gas stations (10%) and on busy streets (8%).
1 out of every 5 day laborers (21%) search for work at day-labor worker centers.
Day laborers are not solely temporary workers:
The vast majority (83%) relies on day-labor work as their sole source of income. 70% search for work five or more days a week, while 9% seek work only one or two days a week.
Many day laborers support themselves and their family through this work:
The need for day laborers to earn an income, in most cases, is made all the more urgent by the responsibility to support their family.
A significant number of day laborers are either married (36 percent) or living with a partner (7 percent), and almost two-thirds (63 percent) have children.
Day laborers are active members of their communities:
Half (52%) of all day laborers attend church regularly, one-fifth (22%) are involved in sports clubs and one-quarter (26%) participate in community worker centers.
The day-labor workforce in the United States is predominantly immigrant and Latino:
Most day laborers were born in Mexico (59%) and Central America (28%), but the third-largest group (7%) was born in the United States.
Two-fifths (40%) of day laborers have lived in the United States for more than 6 years.
