"The Okies of the Great Recession"

I finished The Grapes of Wrath and the next day when I bought a copy of Harper's, I found this story about retirement-age adults who live in RVs and travel the country following seasonal work. Jessica Bruder writes:

    They call themselves workampers, travelers, nomads, and gypsies, while
    history-minded commentators have labeled them the Okies of the Great
    Recession. More bluntly, they are geriatric migrant labor, meeting demands
    for seasonal work in an increasingly fragmented, temp-driven marketplace.
    And whatever you call them, they're part of a demographic that in the past
    several years has grown with alarming speed: downwardly mobile older
    Americans.

I highly recommend reading this piece; if you're like me and had no idea about this group of people, you'll find it informative, frequently mind-boggling, and yet also an expected extension of economic and social trends. Just as the Joads find community in some places and (when there is work) hard work for little pay almost everywhere, the people Bruder interviews create communities at RV camps yet work long, exhausting days at Amazon warehouses and other sites. But one difference is that there are no Jim Casys in the 2014 story, no workers on strike.