The Unofficial Heart

This state of California was once part of Mexico, now the country

beneath

the U.S. Although the land was now owned by the American Government,

the

Mexican people never left . To this day more than half of residents in

California are immigrants and almost all of them Hispanic. These

immigrant

workers come from their home countries south of the boarder to try and

make

a better living for themselves and their families. To them California

is the

land of dreams and opportunities and they will do anything to get here

and

make a living. These people work hard, they work long, and they work

for

almost no wage freelancing in small groups finding odd jobs that

wherever

they can. Yet most of these immigrants live a better life here, doing

what

"citizen" will for half the money, than they would back in their

home

country. These immigrant workers do come here to better their own life

but

do they simultaneously contribute to California's Economy? California

was

built on immigrant workers that came here and opened up a world of

opportunities to families running from poverty, war, or hunger if not

all.

California would not be the culture rich superpower that it is today,

as one

of the biggest, economically rich, and most populated regions on earth.

California needs the contribution that these immigrants have on its

economy.

The average minimum wage worker in California gets paid $6.75 an hour

for

their

Munoz 2

services. Yet this wage is not a "living wage" says Elvia Jackson a

published writer, "California needs a fair minimum wage for

everyone". An

average immigrant worker gets about half of that per hour he or she

works by

freelancing on the streets. These immigrant workers get up as early as

they

can to be able to be the first ones to wherever it is they usually get

work

from, weather it be in from the corner at Seven Eleven or the Home

Depot

parking lot. These people stand all day hoping for someone to come by

and

give them work for almost any pay. It amazing how little they are

willing to

get paid for the services they will do in for their bounty. So how is

it

that these immigrants workers come here to earn money for a better

living,

getting paid close to almost nothing for what they do, and still have

enough

to save up? These are not the best livable wages here in California but

it

does say something when one can see that that an immigrant worker can

live a

moderate life style and still have enough money left over to send to

their

family. Although these people are sending their profits back to their

loved

ones in other countries and not letting the profits cycle back into the

economy, they are still making a big contribution to the economy itself

just

by performing hard labor services at half the cost. Its almost like

having a

third world country sweatshop delivery service right at home, except

without

sweatshop.