New research from the American Immigration Council, The Economic Contributions of Immigrants in Texas, highlights the crucial role of immigrants in the state’s workforce across the manufacturing, healthcare, and education fields. As of 2019, Texas had the second-largest immigrant population in the country. The increase in the immigrant population has helped strengthen and grow the already massive Texas labor force, even amidst disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, labor shortage, and supply-chain disruptions to the local, state, and national economies.
Key findings from the report include:
- The Texas economy continues to grow larger and stronger, and immigrants are helping meet the demand. From 2017 to 2021, the number of online job postings in Texas more than doubled. Despite making up just 17.1 percent of Texas’ population, immigrants comprised 21.9 percent of the workforce.
- Immigrants play a key role in manufacturing, a key economic driver in Texas. In 2019, 33.3 percent of computer tool operations workers, 28.3 percent of production workers, and 22.7 percent of inspectors, testers, and sorters were immigrants.
- Immigrants help fill the growing need for bilingual and culturally competent workers. Demand for bilingual workers across critical fields like healthcare, social work, and education also increased in 2019. Immigrants bring skills that can contribute to these growing workforce needs, already comprising 31.7 percent of dentists, 28.7 percent of home healthcare aides, and 9.1 percent of social workers.
