Some migrant day laborers leaving U.S.

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The downturn in the California construction industry is so bad it's persuading some immigrant day laborers to return home, economists say.

The state has lost 84,000 construction jobs since last year and its unemployment rate has jumped from 5.4 percent in August 2007 to 7.3 percent last month. The situation has meant fewer day labor jobs for immigrants, both legal and undocumented, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

"Things are really drying up," Abel Valenzuela, a UCLA professor who has researched day laborers across the nation, told the newspaper. The lack of jobs is forcing immigrants to consider alternatives, he said, adding, "One of them is, clearly, to leave the United States and head back."

Valenzuela told the Times anecdotal evidence reveals only about 10 percent to 15 percent of California day laborers now get hired daily, down from about 40 percent in recent years.

Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California-San Diego, said single male migrants are much more likely to leave the country than those with families.