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Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to compare conditions in informal day-labor markets in South Africa and the USA to better understand the nature of worker vulnerabilities in this market, as well as the economic conditions that have contributed to the growth of day labor. The conclusion considers interventions that are underway in the two countries to improve conditions in day-labor markets.Design/methodology/approach– The paper is based on national surveys of day laborers in South Africa and the USA. A random sample of day laborers seeking work at informal hiring sites was undertaken in each country. The paper presents key findings, compares conditions in South Africa and the USA, and analyzes the relationship between economic change, labor-market dynamics, and worker vulnerability.Findings– Day-labor work is characterized by low pay, hazardous conditions on the job, and tremendous income insecurity. The day-labor markets in South Africa and the USA perform somewhat different functions within regional economies. Within South Africa, day labor can be regarded as a survival strategy. The growth of day labor in South Africa over the past decade is a manifestation of a formal labor market that is incapable of absorbing the structurally unemployed. Here, day labor is the employment of last resort, allowing workers to subsist on the fringes of the mainstream economy, but offering few pathways into the formal sector. In the USA, the day labor workforce is a largely undocumented-immigrant workforce. Workers seek work at informal hiring sites, maintaining a tenuous hold on jobs in the construction industry. There is evidence of some mobility into more stable and better paying employment.Practical implications– This paper documents the need for policies and programs to increase employment opportunities for day laborers and to better enforce labor standards in the informal economy.Originality/value– This paper summarizes findings from the only two national surveys of day laborers that have been conducted, and it compares for the first time the dynamic within growing day-labor markets in a developed- and emerging-market context.

My main goal with this case study of disaster policy implementation is to provide an assessment of the capacity of the nonprofit sector to become an active participant in the long-term economic recovery of Puerto Rico. And, more generally, I wish to examine barriers hindering nonprofit sector participation. The study is intended to take advantage of this window of opportunity to strengthen the housing and community development industry in the island. In the first section of the study I discuss the relative size and strength of the housing and community development industry in the context of the nonprofit sector in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has robust nonprofit and cooperatives sector but a smaller housing and community development sub-sector. In the second part of the study, I identified three significant barriers that have hindered the development of the housing community development industry in Puerto Rico: the exclusionary role of federal and local recovery funding policy; the relative weakness of the industry ecosystem; and, the relative scarcity of professionals with the understanding of reconstruction programs. The final section of the study presents conclusions, and policy and industry development strategies recommendations. I conclude that post-disaster federal funding for economic recovery offers Puerto Rico a unique window of opportunity to restore its economy and infrastructure in a more resilient fashion while strengthening the nonprofit sector capacity for community planning, housing and economic development, and neighborhood revitalization. However, such an opportunity is contingent on reforming public policy and implementing a comprehensive strategy to encourage and support nonprofit developers’ participation in reconstruction programs, as well as building industry capacity by strengthening intermediaries and community development corporations, encouraging intra-industry partnerships and collaborations, and providing professional development for economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the post-disaster recovery in Puerto Rico and local participation. It mentions that multiple natural disasters have exacerbated vulnerability and poverty; and public energy, telecommunications, water, health, and transportation systems have deteriorated and become even more vulnerable and causing systematic failures in social safety nets.

An introduction is presented in which the author comments on the articles in this issue, including one on economic stagnation, political crises, and the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA).

In this study I examine whether PROMESA is achieving its main goal of insuring a string of balanced budgets and to restore Puerto Rico's access to credit markets under favorable terms that involve the restructuring of the debt, and whether the implementation of policies consistent with achieving those goals provides a pathway to restoring economic growth. I conclude that the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board's policies of balanced budgets and fiscal austerity are insufficient -- and based on their own ten-year Fiscal Plan projections -- not likely mechanisms for overcoming the economic crisis. Especially after the impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico's economy and a deepening of the population exodus, achieving the stated goals is untenable in the absence of federal stimulus policies in addition to the projected disaster recovery funding. The economic effects of PROMESA and the austerity policies currently implemented by the Oversight Board on Puerto Rico's long-term economic development are still an open question and critically dependent on further Congressional action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of PROMESA in the context of an erratic historical pattern of U.S. policy implementation toward Puerto Rico and offer an analysis of the congressional political and legislative dynamics that led to the enactment of the law. PROMESA's core components were and are contentious to various constituencies affected by the legislation, especially to those directly affected by severe austerity measures and bondholders who have lost substantial value in their investments. PROMESA received divided support from the Puerto Rican people and its elected officials when enacted and represents a new reality and challenge to the Puerto Rican people both on the island and stateside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the author comments on the articles in this issue, which focus on the Jones Act of 1917, which extended U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rico.

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 indicating 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the formation of contemporary Puerto Rican farm labor in the United States and is based on a survey of farmworkers conducted from July through November of 2010 in the Northeast. We argue that this labor force is constructed, organized, and maintained by the following: labor-market conditions, including high unemployment in Puerto Rico and higher wages in the United States; circular migration and social networks among seasonal agricultural workers; U.S. citizenship of Puerto Rican workers and the legal requirements of employers to give native workers preference in hiring for agricultural jobs; and, finally, factors contributing to the social isolation of Puerto Rican seasonal workers, such as few ties to the local communities in which they work and poor English-language skills. Puerto Rican farmworkers offer a prime example of open-border seasonal migration for examination by scholars and policy makers concerned with agricultural guest-worker programs. This case study provides insights into how policies, experiences, and conditions in farm labor may or may not be related to the workers' legal status, but rather to the labor-market dynamics and social conditions affecting them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, the authors consider the findings of the articles featured in this special issue devoted to social problems associated with low-wages and education among Puerto Ricans in the United States. Some of the topics considered include English language skills, social and educational programs designed to give skills to Puerto Rican youths and workers, and community programs designed to build relations between Puerto Rican labor, local industries, and local stakeholders.

This study provides an analysis of the occupational and educational selectivity of Puerto Rican migration to and from the United States using consolidated data from the American Community Survey for 2006 to 2008. Using existing theoretical explanations of migration, the study assesses the extent to which current explanations of migration are applicable to the most recent migratory flows. To ascertain the validity of the proposition that Puerto Rican migration flows are primarily composed of the most disadvantaged workers, we divided the sample into two labor market segments—those employed in low-wage occupations and those not employed in low-wage occupations. The main conclusions of this study are that net migration outflows from the island are likely to persist to the extent that growing disparities in labor market conditions between Puerto Rico and the United States persist, and that the patterns of selectivity predicted by various theories of migration are not unmistakably identifiable in current flows. Such evidence calls for a new look at the case of Puerto Rican migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Puerto Ricans are concentrated in low-wage jobs and experience higher rates of unemployment and poverty than other Hispanic subgroups. Through a cross-sectional data analysis from the American Community Survey, 2006-2008, we examine the experience of Puerto Rican workers. Though educational attainment and language disparities play a role, structural factors such as concentration in low-wage service industries also explain the disadvantaged standing of Puerto Ricans in the labor market. This analysis highlights the importance of ethnic-specific studies and the need for research on factors that may influence Puerto Rican workers' mobility in and out of low-wage jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines whether the differing impact of local labor market conditions may help explain differences in the labor force participation of Puerto Rican, White, and Black women. The authors' analysis, using the standard metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) as Unit of analysis, indicates that White, Black, and Puerto Rican women are affected differently by earnings, unemployment, city size, industrial change, and other variables affecting the supply side of labor markets. In particular, White women are less responsive to income changes and more responsive to the discouraged worker effect when unemployment rises than are Black and Puerto Rican women. White women are not significantly affected by the size of the cities in which they live nor by changes in the regional demand for labor. In contrast, Black and Puerto Rican women are adversely affected by the size of the cities in which they live. However, Black women have not been affected by changes in the demand for labor, whereas Puerto Rican women seem to have been hurt by these changes. The differing impact of local labor market conditions may induce differences in the long-term trends in labor force participation for each of these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an introduction to the special issue of the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences on Puerto Rican Poverty and Labor Markets. It proposes that the unifying theme of the articles included in this volume is the focus on how structural factors, particularly in the functioning of labor markets affect Puerto Ricans' disadvantaged socioeconomic status in the United States. Among the most important factors presented in the volume are: the concentration of Puerto Ricans in cities and regions (e.g., New York City, Chicago) that have undergone a rapid transition from a goods- producing economy to a service-oriented one; limited opportunities in housing markets that, in turn, limit the kinds and numbers of job opportunities that are available! quality of schools and the quality of public services; and the persistence of racial and gender discrimination. Other important topics examined in the special issue are the conceptualization of poverty and the poor, and welfare dependency. The authors conclude that the articles in the volume strongly support the view that Puerto Rican poverty largely results from the circumstances in which this population lives and works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]