Internees were encouraged to work in camp-sponsored self-help programs. All of the relocation centers operated farms, and the food grown was often exchanged between camps. Camp administration offices also provided other opportunities for employing residents. The pay was low, ranging from $12 for a month of 48-hour weeks as an agricultural worker to $19 a month for physicians, dentists, and other professionals.

"The call went out for people with any kind of skill to offer their services. Thousands were responding, with great surges of community spirit, sometimes with outright patriotism, wanting 'to do their part.' Woody signed on as a carpenter. One of my brothers-in-law was a roofing foreman. Another ran a reservoir crew. Mama had worked as a dietician in Washington after she was married. In camp this was high-priority training... Nineteen dollars a month. This was top wage for an internee. Unskilled labor started at eight." — Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, Farewell to Manzanar

Sue Embrey: Working for the War Effort (oral history transcript)

"Along the rows of barracks were planted victory gardens. Great care and attention were given to them by the owners, who were spurred by competitive pride. The best were those of former truck gardeners and nurserymen." —Mine Okubo, Citizen 13660

Work-release programs offered residents one route out of the camps. As early as May 1942, camp residents who were willing to work as field laborers were offered seasonal furloughs. Though elaborate investigations of "character" and "loyalty" were required of the participants, by 1943, 17,000 Japanese Americans had permanently left the WRA camps under the work-release program.