I'm Elise Hugh. You're listening to TED Talks Daily. Employers take advantage of particularly

vulnerable workers in the U.S. The ones who work informally are off the books. In today's talk

from TEDx Mile High in 2021, anthropologist Rebecca Gilemba shares her research on what's happening with

day laborers and offers solutions to prevent workers from being undercut or mistreated.

When you work, you expect to be paid for it. You don't expect to be paid less than you were

promised, or worse, nothing at all.

But that's exactly what's happening to millions of Americans who work in a range of industries.

It's especially a problem in agriculture, construction, restaurants, garment factories,

poultry plants, nursing homes, in day labor, and among independent contractors.

It's called wage theft, and chances are that you or somebody know has experienced it.

Wage theft occurs when individuals do not receive their legally owed wages and benefits.

Wage theft can take many forms, paying below the minimum wage, withholding earned benefits,

overtime, breaks, or tips, misclassifying employees as independent contractors, and even outright

nonpayment.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates that workers are losing $50 billion a year to wage theft,

but most people haven't even heard of the problem. If it's hard to picture $50 billion a year to wage theft, but most people haven't even heard of the problem.

If it's hard to picture $50 billion, consider this.

Yearly economic losses to auto theft, robbery, and burglary combined come to much less at $14 billion a year.

Wage theft impacts more than just the workers who don't get their wages.

It lowers wages in those workplaces and across entire industries.

Plus, it robs communities of tax dollars.

And even more broadly, it rewards cheating, undermines competition, and creates a race to the bottom that hurts us all.

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