Jobs are a perennial political issue: How many are available, how much they pay, how to create more. But in recent years, the debate over jobs and government regulation of employment has merged with concerns over immigration and the rise of the so-called “gig economy” that relies on independent contractors for labor instead of employees.
It’s an especially urgent issue in Southern Nevada, with its large population of Latin American immigrants living and working service-industry jobs — at times for more hours and lower pay than the law allows. Inconsistent enforcement of labor laws at the federal and state levels allows the issue to persist. When regulators don’t enforce labor laws, the only recourse for workers is to sue, yet most can’t afford legal assistance or are afraid of retaliation.
Our expert
Ruben Garcia has been a professor at 51ԹϺ’s William S. Boyd School of Law since 2011.
The native of El Paso, Texas, came to 51ԹϺ from California Western School of Law in San Diego, where he was a professor and director of the Labor and Employment Law Program. Garcia specializes in labor and employment and constitutional law, subjects he teaches at the Boyd School of Law.
A few facts
- Estimates of the population of undocumented immigrants in the United States generally range from between 11 and 14 million. , down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007.
- Nevada has the nation’s largest shares of undocumented immigrants in its labor force (10 percent) and overall population (8 percent).
- Wage theft — employers’ denial of wages and benefits to workers through failure to pay for overtime, forcing employees to work off the clock, and other illegal but common tactics — costs American workers hundreds of millions of dollars per year, .
Why this matters
What does noncompliance with labor laws cost the economy?
The combination of wage theft, misclassification of workers, and inconsistent enforcement, Garcia said, robs states and the nation of hundreds of millions in needed tax revenue, employee productivity, and contributions to Social Security, which is funded through payroll taxes. It also hurts private businesses’ competitors by forcing them to take similar steps and local economies by denying consumers purchasing power from wages that haven’t been paid.
Why is it so important in southern Nevada?
Because Las Vegas and the surrounding area depends so much on immigrant workers for labor, Garcia said. Much of that workforce consists of undocumented immigrants, which tempts employers to commit wage theft, harming the over