Study exposes sweatshop conditions in US workplaces

[Hannah Bell]

A detailed study released Wednesday reveals that violations of labor laws are the rule, not the exception, in low-wage industries in the US. The study, conducted by the Center for Urban Economic Development, the National Employment Law Project and the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, surveyed over 4,000 low-wage workers in the three largest US cities.

The survey represents a scientific landmark, using new statistical techniques to survey people who are unrepresented in official statistics and politics. A staff of 62 researchers conducted 90-minute interviews with over 4,000 people over six months, using referrals to gain the trust of people who typically shy away from surveys because they are so often scammed.

The results, the first of their kind, show a dramatic deterioration of labor standards over previous years. The study concluded that in a given week, over 1 million workers in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles have at least one pay-related violation against them, and that “front line workers in low-wage industries” in the these cities have some $56.4 million taken from them every week...

The findings show that the decline in workers’ wages has had a significant impact on employers’ compliance with employment laws. While all workers’ wages have fallen over the past decades, and unemployment affects all sections of society, the lowest paid workers have been worst affected. But as the economic crisis deepens, there is every indication that such sweatshop conditions will spread to a broader section of the workforce.

http://www.nelp.org/

[strategery blunder]

1. After 8 years of Bush gutting regulatory enforcement, what do you expect?

:( :( :(

[boppers]

2. "first of their kind...over previous years"

Wait, what?

If it's the first time they've run the data this way, how can they make a fair comparison? Maybe it's been *worse* before, but nobody noticed, because of the unique way the data is collected? Looking into it, this was several months in 2008, not even a full year's worth of data, so even full year comparisons would be wrong.