The Labor of California

When the dust bowl hit the Okies they were left without jobs.  In search for labor, they left their native states and settled in the western territories of the United States.  Because the west was early in development it was thought to have a plethora of jobs.  This assumption was far from the truth.  Because the dust bowl effected so many people there was a surplus of laborers that moved to the west.  This made the wages of work low, and it made jobs scarce.

In the west jobs were unskilled positions that were inconsistent. Many Okies believed working in orchards would be a resolutuion to thier money problems, however, due to picking seasons the jobs were limited. All these jobs were jobs with very low wages. There could be a period of time were jobs were unavailable, and this made managing a stable household impossible. For these jobs all of the owners of land would have a set rate of pay, so all the jobs would give the same low pay of around twenty-five cents per hour. This low rate made the Okies look like scum. ( Okie - Wikipedia, the...)