Amid few jobs, construction worker struggles to cope
By Gayathri Vaidyanathan and Mirela Iverac (December 2008)
See project here: Coping in NY
Raoul Osario used to earn $2000 a month; now he tries to support himself and his nine-year-old son, Jonathan, with just $130.
“I could afford anything for the first 45 years of my life,” said Osario, 50, a superintendent of a building in Jackson Heights, Queens. He started working in this building in 2003 for $130 and a basement apartment for which he doesn’t have to pay rent or utilities. Osario supplemented the small income earned there with contract construction jobs, such as putting up and repairing air conditioning and refrigerators, which brought him a monthly income of up to $2000.