Immigration has always been a struggle for the people that are coming to Chicago. In the time period of The Jungle, as well as now, many foreigners struggled to find work. In the time period of the Jungle, exploitation, working and living conditions were worse than they are for today's immigrants. .
One issue that Sinclair explains throughout the novel is exploitation and greed. One example of this in the Jungle, is where a character is swindled out of money, when he goes to a saloon and only had a $100 dollar bill to pay with. When he attempted to pay, ". [The Bartender] Punched up five cents, and began to pull the money out of the drawer. Finally, he faced Jurgis, counting it out - two dimes, a quarter, and fifty cents" (204). People were also exploited when solicitors would take two alarm clocks, and make one feature more conspicuous to raise the price. Another example in the book, is when the family hires a plumber to fix a problem. When the plumbers come to fix it only one works while the other one does nothing though they still have to pay him. Though it may not be that noticeable, immigrants are still be held to exploitation and greed.
Secondly, Sinclair shows the dangerous and unfair labor issues the immigrants faced. One of the dangerous work practices that were mentioned in The Jungle was, when they would "doctor" the meat after letting it go bad. An example of this in the book is "Jonas had told them how the meat that was taken out of pickle would be found sour, and how they would rub it up with soda to take away the smell"(140). In the fertilizer part of the factory the smell was so heavy that it would sink into your pores. An unfair labor issue that went on during The Jungle was when they would hire children and pay them less. Also they would have them doing more dangerous job, like having them go into small areas that an adult could not fit into, to fix a problem.
