Cabinet members in the Trump administration have touted policies that they say will allow project owners to “build, baby, build,” but the results of a new construction industry survey show how elevated immigration enforcement threatens to exacerbate workforce-related project delays.
Labor shortages are the top cause of project delays, impacting the work of 45% of contractors, according to the latest annual workforce survey from the Associated General Contractors of America and National Center for Construction Education and Research. They surveyed nearly 1,400 contractors in July and August.
Eighty-eight percent of responding firms have openings for hourly craft positions, but 92% of those firms said it is as hard or even harder to fill those openings than it was a year ago, when 94% of hiring contractors also reported difficulty filling openings for craft workers. Those difficulties were not limited to certain trades—more than 75% of contractors reported trouble finding electricians, heavy equipment and crane operators, ironworkers, mechanics, pipefitters/welders and plumbers.
At the same time, 28% of firms said they have been impacted by immigration enforcement actions within the past six months. While only 5% reported having immigration agents visit their jobsite or another location, 10% of contractors reported losing workers because of an actual or rumored immigration action, and 20% said their subcontractors had lost workers because of immigration enforcement.
The impact of immigration enforcement varied from state to state. AGC provided state-level results for 21 states. In Georgia, 75% of contractors reported being impacted by immigration enforcement, compared to just 8% of contractors in Idaho, where no contractors reported having immigration agents visit their jobsite.
The survey was conducted in the wake of President Donald Trump signing Congress’ reconciliation package that increased funding for immigration enforcement, noted Ken Simonson, chief economist at AGC, during a webinar to discuss the survey results. So it’s likely even more firms will be affected in the coming months, he said.
Most contractors have not utilized programs to allow immigrants to work in the U.S. Seventy-one percent said they did not employ workers authorized to work in the county through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA, or Dreamers) program or the Temporary Protected Status program, and 77% said they did not use the H-2B or other temporary work visa programs. More firms reported being unsure of whether they had participated in the programs than said they had used them to hire workers.
To help address the labor issues, AGC is calling on Congress and the Trump administration to provide more ways for people to enter or remain in the U.S. to work in construction.
“This should include establishing a new, construction-specific temporary work visa program,” Simonson said. “And it should also include a pathway for people already in the country—whether they are here via the Temporary Protected Status program, seeking asylum or undocumented—to lawfully remain in the country and continue to contribute to the American economy.”
Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and workforce at AGC, said the group has been working to make officials aware of the construction labor shortages, the ways they could have a positive impact and how steps they’re taking are removing workers from the industry. The results so far have been “mixed,” he said. While proposed legislation such as the Dignity Act would establish a program allowing people in the country illegally to earn legal status with work authorization, Turmail said some administration officials “have placed a lot of hope and expectation” that some of the work provisions related to SNAP and Medicare benefits in the reconciliation package will bring more people into the construction workforce.
“We hope they’re right, but we typically do remind them that those requirements don’t kick in for over a year,” Turmail said.
