Sustainability Language

Human Rights & Social Sustainability

Day laborer

A worker hired and paid by the day, typically without job security or benefits — a defining category of informal employment in agriculture and construction.

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Definition

A day laborer is a worker engaged on a daily, casual basis — hired for a day at a time, paid at the day's end, with no continuing employment relationship, contract security or benefits. Day labour sits within informal labour markets as characterised in the literature (Castells & Portes), and is widespread in agriculture, construction and urban services, including migrant day-labour pickup markets.

References

Overview

What it means

Maximum employment flexibility for the employer, matched by maximum precarity for the worker — no sick pay, safety net or predictable income.

How it is used

The category matters in supply-chain due diligence (casual harvest labour), living-wage analysis and labour-rights auditing, where casual status often conceals long-term dependence and heightened rights risks.

Why it matters

Day labour concentrates occupational-health, wage-theft and rights risks; sustainability standards increasingly require visibility into casual and temporary workforces, not just permanent staff.

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