KOREATOWN : Workers Called Hidden Riot Victims

Korean American workers who lost their jobs when businesses were damaged or destroyed in the 1992 riots are among the unrest’s hidden victims, according to a survey to be released this week, and two out of five of them are still unemployed.

Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates asked a sample of displaced Korean American workers in December if they had found new jobs and what level of assistance they received from the government and other sources.

The organization contacted 151 displaced workers originally interviewed by the Korean American Inter-Agency Council in July, 1992. Of the 72 who responded to the telephone survey, 38.9% were still unemployed and, of the 44 who found new jobs, nine have found part-time employment and only four have found jobs with health, vacation and other benefits.

Many merchants who suffered heavy damage during the riots are still reeling from its effects, but “we shouldn’t lose sight of the losses suffered by workers who don’t get the same attention and who have fewer resources to deal with this crisis,” said Edward Park, the organization’s director of research.

While 70% of the respondents received some assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 42% received disaster unemployment assistance.

Korean community organizations provided assistance to 60, or 83%, of the respondents, but only six reported receiving assistance from the Korean American Relief Fund, which mainly provided aid to business owners and has not disbursed all the funds it raised.

Slightly more than half of the respondents said their financial situation is “difficult” or “very difficult” and a majority expressed dissatisfaction with the level of assistance from federal, state and local governments and, for the most part, the Korean American community.

In addition to expanded efforts to help displaced workers, “there needs to be more focus on getting Korean American workers out of the ethnic labor market” in which even those who find jobs face low wages, few benefits and difficult working conditions, said Park, a sociology professor who will teach at USC next fall.

The Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, established in March, 1992, provides legal services, education, training, organizing assistance, research and advocacy for Korean-American workers. Additional findings from the survey will be released Thursday.