The first nationwide study on day laborers has found that three-fourths of such workers were illegal immigrants and that more than half said employers had cheated them on wages in the previous two months. The study, based on interviews with 2,660 workers at 264 hiring sites in 20 states and the District of Columbia, found that day laborers earned a median of $10 an hour and $700 month.
See "Broad Survey of Day Laborers Finds High Level of Injuries and Pay Violations", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, January 22, 2006