On a recent morning on a sleepy street in Jackson Heights, Queens, more than 20 men and women swarmed a dark blue van in hopes of getting some work for the day. Four managed to get in.
The would-be workers, most of whom were men in their 20s and 30s, are part of a growing pool of migrants that’s flooding New York City, where thousands of asylum seekers arrive each week. Desperate for work but bound by U.S. immigration law from doing so in any legal or stable fashion, they’re often relegated to competing with other undocumented workers for the odd day job, or enterprising by selling fruit or candy on the street or subway.
To major employers like restaurateur Danny Meyer, it’s a stunning inefficiency. More than half a year after his trattoria Maialino returned from its pandemic closure, Meyer still can’t find authorized workers that will allow him to reopen for weekday lunch. His struggle to staff his New York City eateries comes as the city and its surrounding areas have seen some 90,000 people leave the labor force since the pandemic. The manufacturing and leisure and hospitality sectors have been especially hard-hit.
