Unemployment leading to California exodus

“It was like someone turned off a spigot. Where did the work go? It was like literally you woke up one day – and there was no work.”


Duane Conder

According to a new study, the sluggish U.S. economy has sharply reduced illegal immigration from Mexico. From a high of 1,600,000 arrests in 2000, the Border Patrol last year arrested 327,000 – a low not seen since the early 1970s.

CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports that the sluggish economy has also triggered a large wave of immigration inside the United States.

As a freelance photographer Duane Conder knows his way around a camera. That’s come in handy now that he’s selling a lot of what he owns on eBay. He’s getting ready to move.

“It’ll be rather traumatic,” Duane said.

Duane and his family have lived in their home near San Diego for 11 years.

“It was like someone turned off a spigot. Where did the work go? It was like literally you woke up one day – and there was no work,” Duane said.

The dot-com boom drew them from Texas to California, and now the prolonged job bust is forcing them out. California’s unemployment rate is 11.7 percent. Duane can’t find work and last week the bank foreclosed on his family’s home.

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Original source.


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