Construction labor costs are lower in Dutchess County.
The firm was Smith Currie & Hancock in Atlanta, which was, and still is, one of the premier construction labor law firms.
Arkansas outlaws union shops, and union members make up only 5percentto10percentcent of the construction labor force here.
After all, construction labor, such as that performed by stone masons or carpenters, pays a fairly decent salary.
The problem for builders is that the recovery in home building has outpaced the growth of the construction labor force.
The Hispanic population of neighboring Jefferson Parish, home to many of those who came to fill the city's ravenous appetite for construction labor, jumped by 65 percent.
Other factors that limit construction, says Rob Dietz, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), include the shortage of construction labor and rising costs.
"We find an increase of college kids who are working outside the normal college market, as sales clerks, in construction labor, department stores, landscaping," he said.
Often hired for low-end jobs like construction labor and meatpacking, Hispanic immigrants in the United States die from workplace injuries at a far higher rate than other workers.
The rush to rebuild is drawing on an already tight construction labor force, causing a drag on building in other parts of the country.
Durga is now considered nearly adult — too young to be hired for construction labor, working as her mother and sister-in-law do, but old enough to stay home and look after her nieces during the day.
