Labor market conspiring against asylum seekers, advocates say

Wage, safety standards compromised across the board

In the last year, more than 100,000 asylum-seeking migrants have arrived in New York City looking for shelter, safety and family-sustaining jobs. But leaders of organizations supporting the asylum seekers say that stable, good-paying jobs are hard to come by for the majority of recent arrivals, not least because they lack federal work authorizations. 

And, advocates stressed, the ever-growing influx of immigrant workers who don’t have access to a federal work authorization has broadened the pool of available off-the-books labor for employers to hire, adding downward pressure on safety standards and wages. That has aggravated an employment environment already ripe with exploitation and wage theft, particularly in low-skilled trades and occupations.