I'm for communities helping each other, but in your moving example you think those workers have health insurance? Why do you have to sneak the tips?
I bet the bus drivers make a good amount of money though.
When it comes to insurance, yes, that sucks, this is where we need one-payer system, which will make insurance available to everyone. Also, the current Affordable Care Act does not require a company less than 50 people to provide insurance to employees. I also do not believe half of the "professional" local contractors have more than five full-time employees if I were to bet. The ones we did hire (because we couldn't find a qualified one in our Chinese community) run the business with at most 2-3 guys, and are usually family-owned. Subcontractors are hired if the contractor is given a bigger job. You don't need twenty people to renovate a house or fix a sewage pipe. It is not economical for most contractors to have too many full time employees waiting around. The competition is huge.
Also, I think these workers aren't always underpaid. Freelancers can make good money. I don't have any evidences to prove, but if they work 5 days a week, and make $200 per job, they can make $4000 a month. See, the pair we got had two jobs in one morning, so they probably made more than $200 that day along with some tips. I am not defending underpaid, but I am sure these movers make good money in the end. Extremely hard work, but they can make good money. Walnut can't even exist if there were only a hundred jobs a day in NY. I pass by a barn truck lot everyday, and I can say with confident at least 3-4 days a week the lot is mostly empty, so there must be enough demand for a barn truck business to survive. So should the moving industry.
[0] Yes, it is extremely common for employers to pay for healthcare in full or in part (and the ACA complicates this a little), but there is no reason employers have to pay anything in order for employees to realize the tax benefit.
This is largely anecdotal, but back when I was doing landscaping over summers in high school and college (2002-2005). For some tasks (installing sod grass, for example), I'd pick up undocumented Central American day laborers^. They would not even get into my truck for less than $14 per hour plus lunch. There's fewer of these laborers around the Atlanta area these days, but from I hear, they still require well over minimum wage.
^ We did our best to avoid hiring from this pool but finding reliable day labor from any legal source was nearly impossible at any price.