Reports of labor disputes between job-seekers and Chinatown's employment agencies have been on the rise following the financial crisis. Immigrant job-seekers deplore these agencies, which they say hoodwink them and take advantage of their lack of knowledge.

AUDIO :: In early September, Brian Lehrer discussed a comprehensive new report revealed widespread abuse of low-wage workers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Annette Bernhardt, policy co-director of the National Employment Law Project and co-author of the new report, Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers, discusses the findings. Plus, Amy Carroll, supervising attorney at Make the Road New York, addresses employment law questions raised by the new report.

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One Fujianese construction worker named Jiang lost not only unpaid wages but also a considerable sum he loaned to his employer, who absconded without a trace.

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A new report details the especially disastrous effects the area’s development has had on Chinese businesses. more>

Undocumented immigrants are contributors to the functioning of the U.S. economy engine, playing an important role in filling gaps in the employment market, said Steven Wong, president of the Lin Ze Xu Foundation. more>

With the economy in recession, Chinese immigrants are flocking back to China. But with even highly educated professionals struggling to find work back in the homeland, working-class Chinese are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to making that decision – stay or leave? more>

With laid-off workers returning from out of state, with the cost of living is skyrocketing, poor Chinese look to save pennies by picking through discarded groceries. more>

A recent survey of Chinese-American apartment tenants in Chinatown and Flushing found that they pay more of their income for rent than native-born Americans, but live in poorer conditions. more>

Guo Zhangcong, a 37-year-old delivery man, suffered serious injuries last month after being assaulted in Philadelphia. The Fujianese man did not call the police or seek medical treatment, however, for fear of being arrested for his illegal immigration status, and died on May 17. more>

When a court ruled on the October 22nd that Manhattan Chinatown’s Saigon Grill restaurant chain must pay 36 Chinese deliverymen a total of $4.6 million in lost wages and damages, it sent a shockwave of dismay and anxiety through the Chinese restaurant industry. more>