Businesses Cope With Absentees

May 2, 2006 — -- Los Angeles' Seventh Street produce market churns with activity most mornings, but it was quiet Monday.

An army of hopeful laborers typically stands outside this Los Angeles Home Depot. But on Monday there stood just one person.

From malls in Atlanta to restaurants in Chicago, the signs hanging in the windows of many businesses read the same: Closed.

Businesses across the country faced a labor shortage as a million workers stayed away from their jobs to attend the many rallies going on across the country in support of immigration reform. For some businesses, the employee shortage made it impossible to remain open.

Custom Rubber Products in Houston tried to adjust by staying open on Sunday, but production was down, and today just two of the company's 67 employees showed up.

"They would have a very big impact on my business if they decided to say, 'We are going to continue this protest for an extended period of time,'" said Russell Moline, president of Custom Rubber products.

Despite the problems faced by many businesses, economists say the overall effect on U.S. commerce should be short-lived. UCLA economist Christopher Thornberg said the one-day work slowdown would probably have no more of an economic effect than the blizzard that hit New York in February.

But that doesn't mean the temporary sting of the labor shortage was any less painful.

Goya Foods had no choice but to stop all deliveries, leaving more than 300 trucks idle and 5 million products undelivered. Meat-packing giant Cargill gave 15,000 workers the day off. And Tyson Foods shut nine of its 16 plants.

While industry can adjust to a short, preplanned boycott, today's activities may show how vital the country's 7.5 million undocumented workers are to the national economy. They comprise 24 percent of all farm workers, 17 percent of workers who clean, and 14 percent of the building industry.

In all, 5 percent of the American work force is made up of illegal immigrants.

"It's hard to envision how these industries will keep going if 15 [percent] to 25 percent of the workers just disappeared within some of these key industries," said Jeff Passel of the Pew Hispanic Research Center.