SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Hiring Halls Need a Chance

While San Diego County’s first hiring hall for documented workers struggles for its existence, a second has started up, and a third is about to. Carlsbad, which opened in mid-July, and Valley Center, which is scheduled to open Monday, deserve credit for not being daunted by Encinitas’ spotty record. The concept of the hiring halls deserves more of a chance. Although the motivation behind the hiring halls was mainly a desire to get day-laborer hiring off the street, there is some evidence that the halls are also helping other unemployed workers find jobs. In a recession, that’s a plus.

But the recession also makes funding more difficult. City funding for the Encinitas and Carlsbad halls expires at year’s end. Valley Center’s start-up is being financed by an $18,000 county grant. If the halls are to continue, they need other sources of money.

The planners of the Valley Center hiring hall recognized this and may have found a formula for success. Behind it are the Rotary, Lions, Optimists and Kiwanis clubs and the Chamber of Commerce, in addition to the Ministerial Fellowship and the North County Interfaith Council. With such support, it hopes to draw contributions from the business community to pay the estimated $31,000 in annual operating costs.

The Valley Center coalition also wisely wants to expand the hiring hall concept and offer other services, such as English classes, health care and job training. Taking these services to the hiring hall makes them more accessible to those who need them most and may help tackle the larger problem of homelessness.

For the many documented immigrants who search for jobs on street corners and call canyons home, a hiring hall that offers other services could help speed their assimilation into American society.