It is interesting to see how prevalent the garment factories were in Chinatown before 9/11 although they were in a decline.  They had reputations for quick turn-around times, computer-operated tracking of inventory, and the ability to assemble workers and products in a timely manner.  Before 9/11, there were about 14,000 garment workers in 250 factories.  Garment factories were a huge supplier of jobs for immigrants especially those who did not speak English.  These ethnic enclaves were places where immigrants could find work, earn money, and not have to bother learning the language.  That is one of the reasons why 9/11 was so detrimental to these workers.  They were not trained in other jobs and they did not speak English, so when 75 factories shut down many people were out of work and struggled to afford basic things.

It is also interesting to read about how these Chinese garment workers were effected by 9/11 and to compare it to the experiences we had during that time.  Jobs were lost, less people came to Chinatown, immigrants did not have networks to find jobs, and they also faced the language barrier.  For different reasons, many other people were sent away from their jobs after 9/11.  For example, my aunt as well as so many others were forced to relocate to different job locations when their offices in the Twin Towers were destroyed.  Similarly, the people who were in Chinatown during that time, those who were in the World Trade Center that day, and all New Yorkers in general together had to cope with the devastating event and still do to this day.