President Obama’s November decision to enact immigration reforms by executive action could increase the shallow pool of workers available for construction jobs. It also could thwart congressional efforts to enact more permanent, more sweeping immigration reforms, an action some in the construction industry have said is needed more than a temporary fix.
The construction industry has long supported reforms that would make many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. legally eligible to hold jobs in a sector plagued by a severe shortage of workers. But the industry’s reaction to the president’s Nov. 20 executive order allowing an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants to avoid deportation has been mixed.
The upside
Some in the industry have lauded the president’s ruling that illegal immigrants can “come out of the shadows and get right with the law” if they have lived in the U.S. for at least five years; have children who are American citizens or legal residents; can pass a criminal background check; and are willing to pay taxes. In his televised speech on immigration reform, he promised them: “You’ll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily, without fear of deportation.”
Quashing that fear could be a boon to construction firms, including many that have straddled the legal line between hiring undocumented workers out of desperation during a busy year and shutting down projects because they can’t find enough laborers and skilled trades to keep their jobs moving.
Construction employers added 12,000 jobs in October, bringing the sector’s unemployment rate to its lowest autumn level since 2006, according to Associated General Contractors. In the 12 prior months, construction employers added 231,000 jobs on top of the more than 6 million positions already on the books, AGC said.
The president's planned changes, many have said, could flood the applicant pool for those jobs.
"The construction industry in New York City needs more qualified people," Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, told Crain’s New York. "In principal, we've always favored immigration reform, because it means more potential candidates." Anderson did not say if he supported Obama’s specific plan.
Beyond the labor pool
But immigration reform--by executive order or congressional mandate--some in the industry have contended, could be a salve for more than a dire worker shortage. It also could stop a rampant industry practice among unscrupulous contractors who violate wage and labor laws by employing illegal immigrants, paying them ultra-low wages under the table and skirting the requirement to pay payroll taxes.
During the 2007 building boom, a report by the Brennan Center for Justice found that many undocumented workers were routinely required to put in 12-hour days, six days a week, for about a quarter of what their American co-workers were earning. Half of the workers in the Brennan Center survey said they sometimes were not paid at all.
Those workers, desperate to keep their jobs and fearful of deportation, can neither quit nor report the wrongdoing to the government. Under immigration reform, however, "the employer can no longer threaten to call immigration to undermine workers exercising their rights," Haeyoung Yoon, deputy program director for the National Employment Law Project, told Crain’s New York.
That new power could help not only the immigrant workers, but those in the industry who have refused to employ illegals or violate wage and labor laws, as fewer of their competitors would be able to get away with those practices.
A safer workforce
It also could keep immigrant construction workers safer on the job.
Just as undocumented immigrants refuse to report a dishonest boss, they also are unlikely to complain about unsafe job site conditions for fear of getting fired. Moreover, when illegal workers are injured on the job, they rarely report the true circumstances of their accidents.
One result: Hispanic construction workers are 30% more likely than others to be hurt at work, according to a 2010 study published in the American Journal of Internal Medicine.
More Hispanic homeowners
Legally employed migrants with no fear of deportation are more likely to buy homes, government officials have said.
In a speech last year in Phoenix, Obama noted: "When more people buy homes and play by the rules, home values go up for everybody, and according to one recent study, the average homeowner has already seen the value of their home boosted by thousands of dollars just because of immigration.”
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro has reiterated that sentiment often since he took office in July, saying Hispanics "truly are the future" of American housing. In November, Castro told The Washington Post that with immigration reform, "you will see more folks who now are in limbo deciding in the future to actually purchase a home." In fact, Hispanics living in the U.S. are expected to buy more than 200,000 homes over the next decade.
Not far enough
A group of more than 100 construction industry representatives met in Houston the week of Obama’s announcement to call on Congress to take more permanent action on immigration. The group plans to meet in 20 other states as well.
“What is unfortunate about the president’s unilateral action is that he offers a temporary solution while claiming to seek permanence,” according to a statement by Associated General Contractors issued the day after the president’s speech. “ His action makes bipartisan reform more difficult to achieve and likely endangers other legislative initiatives that require bipartisan solutions and cooperation between the Congress and the administration. AGC urges the president to allow the legislative process to play out and avoid making unilateral policy changes that fail to offer employers and their workers a long-term, permanent solution to our nation’s broken immigration system.”
The organization supports immigration reform, the statement said, as it will “eliminate the threat” that non-citizen construction workers will be deported and protect the employers who hire them.
National Association of Home Builders Chairman Kevin Kelly, also objected to Obama’s action: “While President Obama’s executive action may provide relief for a portion of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S., this piecemeal approach to immigration reform is no long-term answer,” Kelly said in a statement.
"Significant progress was made toward developing comprehensive immigration legislation in the last congressional session and the administration and new Congress should build on that foundation to develop a lasting, fair and workable policy solution," Kelly said.