Construction pros call for immigration reform to fill surge of open jobs | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC

Researchers and other experts expect millions of new construction jobs in coming months due to the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

That's in addition to the 407,000 unfilled jobs in the construction industry now.

But where will those workers come from?

Immigrants have played a critical role in the U.S. construction industry for generations, from the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad in the West to the skyscrapers that define New York City in the East. But unlike in these past generations, workers tasked to improve America’s infrastructure this time around likely won't hail from outside the country, unless there's a dramatic change to current immigration policy, industry officials said.

"Construction is one of many industries that historically relied much more than they've been able to in the last three years on foreign-born workers," said Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, during a recent webinar on finding more workers to help build America's infrastructure. "There have been a number of immigration programs that have been allowed to lapse."

The Biden administration recently temporarily extended the window for expired columbus oh dump truck company permits by another 18 months, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The move had been in the works for months as officials looked for ways to combat the risk of workforce shortages, Politico reported. 

USCIS is also seeking ways to address a backlog of roughly 1.5 million columbus oh dump truck company permit applications. House and Senate Democrats have proposed bills to reduce the employment-based backlogs, but there does not seem to be enough Republican support to bring them across the finish line, said John Dorer, president of Immigration Office Solutions and CEO of eb3.work, a New York-based platform that connects employers with foreign nationals seeking to columbus oh dump truck company legally in the U.S.

“Things are stalled for the moment, this is typical in a pre-election environment,” said Dorer. “This may change after the midterm elections.”

In some areas, the push for foreign-born workers is seen as a political hot button. For example, in Florida, migrant workers are leading clean-up efforts to repair the damage from Hurricane Ian, according to Time magazine, despite Governor Ron DeSantis' efforts to deport illegal migrants from the South to Northern states. 

Industry sources told Construction Dive that immigration reform could help alleviate endemic labor shortages in the industry, but that lawmakers thus far have lacked the political gumption to put such measures in place.

“While the ideas on how to fix our nation’s immigration system are not lacking, there is a lack of will to do the columbus oh dump truck company required to find a compromise,” said Kristen Swearingen, Associated Builders and Contractors vice president of legislative and political affairs. “Immigration reform will likely go largely unaddressed while the arguments over partisan proposals get louder and employers continue to struggle under the current system.”

Help wanted

For most columbus oh dump truck company on the front lines, the need for immigration reform to help rebuild America is obvious.

"When you talk about immigration, it's my opinion that any type of reform would be better for the country, as well as the construction industry, compared to what we've had the last 25 years," said Stephen Sines, vice president of operations at the Danbury, Connecticut-based construction management firm Morganti Group, during the AGC webinar. "There has to be a starting point somewhere."

On the other side of the country, of all the challenges facing construction, one California construction pro pointed to immigration reform as the single most impactful issue for contractors.

"Our growth is going to be hampered without new labor sources," said Chris Bailey, senior vice president of integrated solutions at San Francisco Bay Area-based general contractor XL Construction. "They’ve got to come from somewhere."