Original source: for those who can't afford to be fussy about status or pay, there are of course plenty of jobs in america. hundreds of thousands of immigrants crowd into the country every year to work in lawn maintenance, on construction crews, or as housecleaners, nannies, and meat packers. even in the absence of new job creation, high turnover in the low-wage job sector guarantees a steady supply of openings to the swift and the desperate. to white-collar job seekers, these are known as "survival jobs"--something to do while waiting for a "real" job to come along.