Day Labor News....

Nik Theodore

Nik Theodore, director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is launching a national study of day-laborer hiring sites. He focuses on workers who seek jobs at such sites, while other experts define day laborers as anyone who is hired and paid for manual labor by the day.

Mr. Theodore said he expects to find an increase in the size and diversity of the day-laborer population, including gender, ethnicity and employment history. In 2006, he was a co-author of a study that estimated the nationwide population of day laborers at 117,600, largely dominated by undocumented male Latino immigrants.

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Redondo Beach, California

In June, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an ordinance in Redondo Beach, California—modeled on one in Phoenix, Arizona—prohibiting day laborers from soliciting work from passing cars. Officials in Stockton, California, said they are considering an ordinance to make it illegal to solicit employment on the city's streets.

The ordinances have sparked opposition from civil-rights groups, which say such restrictions violate the laborers' free-speech rights. But Redondo Beach City Attorney Michael Webb said the laws are necessary to ensure safe traffic flow and prevent the growth of an underground economy.

"That anyone can complain about an ordinance like ours is simply amazing to me," Mr. Webb said.