migrant labor

8 Stories

Children Are Working on Our Roofs—and Falling From Them

The 'New York Times' speaks with migrant children who work as roofers

(Newser) - In the US, you have to be 18 to work as a roofer due to the inherent danger of the job. But as the New York Times reports in a grim investigation, a growing population of children are ending up on our roofs anyway, in some cases without safety gear...

Co-Op Gives Farm Workers Shot at Field of Own Dreams

Field hands get opportunity to start own businesses

(Newser) - Being an itinerant farm worker might be one of the most grueling ways to make a living in the country. But what if these workers could take their experience and turn it into a farm of their own? NPR profiles a cooperative in California's Salinas Valley that offers that...

Hire Local? Farmers Who Seek US Workers Hit Hard

Even with high unemployment, Americans walk off too-hard job

(Newser) - John Harold is trying to do the right thing when it comes to harvesting his 1,000-acre Colorado farm, by hiring only legal foreign workers and, this summer, offering more positions to unemployed locals. But “it didn’t take me six hours to realize I’d made a heck...

Nanny: Diplomat Made Me a Slave
Nanny: Diplomat Made Me a Slave
Aug 9, 2009 2:33 PM CDT

Nanny: Diplomat Made Me a Slave

Sexually assaulted and beaten, she reveals horrors facing UK's migrant workers

(Newser) - A migrant worker in Britain took what looked like a plush job as a diplomat’s nanny—only to be treated as a sex slave with little recourse to the law, the Independent reports, uncovering a predicament faced by other workers. “I was trapped. I was paid nothing, never...

Recession Cools Worldwide Migration
 Recession Cools 
 Worldwide Migration 
ANALYSIS
Jun 6, 2009 2:51 PM CDT

Recession Cools Worldwide Migration

(Newser) - Facing a tough job market, immigrants are returning home around the world, reversing historic migration patterns and giving up on income that once fed their families, the Wall Street Journal reports. With construction workers going back to Mexico and domestic servants to the Philippines, wealthy nations are also bound to...

China's Olympic Wonders Dazzle—at First
 China's Olympic Wonders Dazzle—at First
OPINION
May 26, 2008 5:27 PM CDT

China's Olympic Wonders Dazzle—at First

Beijing tried to impress, not deal with deeper issues

(Newser) - Beijing's new Olympic buildings will impress the world at first glance, Paul Goldberger writes in the New Yorker. The National Stadium boasts a lattice of crisscrossing beams, and the blue-gray Aquatic Center seems underwater with its translucent plastic pillows. But peel back the paint, and see evidence of what enrages...

54 Burmese Migrant Workers Suffocate in Border Crossing

They screamed an hour before driver halted

(Newser) - Police yesterday discovered the bodies of 54 Burmese migrant workers who suffocated in a truck heading across the border to Thailand. Workers crammed in the 7-by-20-foot space, almost all women, say when they finally managed to alert the driver, he fled. Each worker paid $314 to be smuggled into Thailand,...

Indian 'Success Story' Funded by Migrants

Money mailed home makes possible Kerala's leftist showcase

(Newser) - The South Indian state of Kerala, long touted for achieving a high quality of life in the face of dire poverty, relies heavily on earnings sent from menial jobs abroad, the New York Times reports. Offered as a leftist alternative to market-driven development in poor nations, Kerala is famous for...

8 Stories