Illegal Immigrant Labor Hurts CA Flooring Business

Los Angeles, CA, Jan. 6, 2010 -- A Costa Mesa flooring contractor found it difficult to compete with contractors who hire illegal immigrants.

Scott Powelson of Costa Mesa has been in the flooring business since the late 70's and used to make a comfortable living doing so, he told the Orange County Register.

However, the industry began to change for him in the mid-90s after he could no longer compete with the low bids offered by contractors who hired illegal workers.

As an illustration, he told the newspaper that on one tile job he would have had to cut his price by 20% to compete.

He recently got out of the flooring business and has become an activist.

Powelson told the Register that the industry began to change in the mid-90s when a lot of the contractors stopped doing the work themselves and hired workers, dropping them off at work sites with tools before taking off.