May Day Impact

The economic impact of the day's events was hard to gauge; though economists expected a one-day stoppage to have little long-term effect. In large swaths of the country, life went on with no noticeable difference.

While the boycott may not have shut down the country, it was strongly felt in a variety of places. Stores and restaurants in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York closed because workers did not show up. In Los Angeles, the police estimated that more than half a million people attended two demonstrations in and near downtown. School districts in several major cities reported a decline in attendance.
Lettuce, tomatoes and grapes went unpicked in fields in California and Arizona, which contribute more than half the nation's produce, as scores of growers let workers take the day off.
Truckers who move 70 percent of the goods in ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach did not work.
Meatpacking companies, including Tyson Foods and Cargill, closed plants in the Midwest and the West employing more than 20,000 people, while the flower and produce markets in downtown Los Angeles stood largely and eerily empty.
The Ports of Los Angeles were hardest hit by the Day Without An Immigrant protest.