A quantitative portrait of members of a worker-led day labor center in unincorporated western Sonoma County, California

This quantitative study contributes to the limited research on day laborers and domestic workers by analyzing data gathered in 2014 and 2015 through structured interviews with 201 members of a worker-led day labor center and hiring hall in rural western Sonoma County, California. The data provide a point-in-time snapshot of the characteristics pertaining to a singular enclave of this marginalized and disenfranchised group. The study’s results were largely congruent with the findings of other national surveys: the vast majority of day laborers are male, foreign born, and earn less than $15,000 a year. This study revealed that length of center membership did not have a significant effect on English proficiency or earnings. This quantitative evidence emphasizes the need to synthesize data pertaining to day laborers and domestic workers into larger studies, such as the Portrait of Sonoma County and the Sonoma County Farmworker Survey, as well as to include this population in workers’ compensation insurance benefits