Labor-Intensive Industries
Report on New Americans in Cincinnati Highlights Economic Contributions of Immigrants
CONTACT Sarah Doolin, New American Economy, [email protected] The foreign-born population in metro Cincinnati holds more than $1.5 billion in spending power and has contributed over $189 million in state and local tax dollars Cincinnati, OH — Today, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and Cincinnati USA… Read More
Report on New Americans in Denver Highlights Economic Contributions of Immigrants
CONTACT Sarah Doolin, New American Economy, [email protected] Adriana La Rotta, Americas Society/Council of the Americas, [email protected] Foreign-born households in Denver generate $6.9 billion in spending power, contribute more than $1 billion to Social Security and Medicare Denver, CO – This Wednesday, business, government, and community… Read More
New Americans in Denver
On October 26, 2015, business, government, and community leaders will gather for “Growth in the New West: Maximizing Immigrant Contributions to Denver’s Prosperity,” an event convened by Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) and New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the Office of Mayor Michael B. Hancock and… Read More
Ten-Year Decline in U.S. Farm Labor Has Cost U.S. Economy $3.1B Annually in Crop Production, Report Shows
CONTACT Sarah Doolin, New American Economy, [email protected] Between 2002 and 2012, the number of new field and crop workers immigrating to the United States fell by roughly 75 percent. New York—At a time when more Americans are trying to eat fresh and locally grown produce, farmers… Read More
Louisville’s immigrant labor force is larger than national average, study finds
Louisville’s percentage of immigrants in its work force is higher than the national average and higher than in peer cities Cincinnati, Nashville and St. Louis, according to a study released by Americas Society, Council of the Americas and the Partnership for a New American Economy. The Partnership for a… Read More
Sessions wrong about immigration’s impact
Sen. Jeff Sessions wrote a recent op-ed for theWashington Post headlined “America needs to curb immigration flows.” He was not talking about illegalimmigration. He was talking about legal immigration. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Immigration subcommittee, our senator’s view is significant. If there are good reasons to curb… Read More
What US manufacturing needs to succeed
Today, manufacturing in the U.S. is as resilient and robust as ever. But to continue manufacturing’s success in the U.S., we must create a business environment that enables our progress. We need an environment that helps manufacturers succeed. Manufacturing in the U.S. has succeeded because our solutions are grounded on… Read More
Business, agriculture groups call for immigration solutions from GOP
Last year, Front Range grocery store customers ate plenty of sweet corn grown at Sakata Farms. But the Brighton producer’s other major summer vegetable, cabbage, didn’t make it to kitchen tables, left unharvested in the field. And forget about broccoli, another labor-intensive crop. The farm has supplied most of the… Read More
Paving the way for highways and jobs
In just over 100 days, the 114th Congress has broken through the gridlock and found bold solutions for major legislative issues, including the historic entitlement reform to repeal the flawed Medicare “doc-fix” once and for all. The House of Representatives alone has passed more than 80 bills, such as the Keystone… Read More
Immigrants Are Good For Us
Immigration is one of the great polarizing issues in American politics. It is the issue that riles my conservative friends the most. They oppose anything that smacks of amnesty, open borders, or more people entering the country illegally. They argue that those people are prone to committing crimes, lazily devour… Read More
Demographic Shifts
Over the last two decades, the size of the U.S.-born population with a high school degree or less has significantly decreased. This trend is particularly evident among young workers, ages 25-44, the group typically most capable of doing physically demanding work. As this population declined, however, the number of jobs for workers with that education level held steady. Thus, real and persistent gaps in the American workforce have opened up, especially in agriculture, hospitality, and meatpacking. Foreign-born workers—a group considerably more likely than natives to lack education beyond high school—step in to fill those jobs that would otherwise remain vacant.
Sources:
1 New American Economy, “A Crucial Piece of the Puzzle: Demographic Change and Why Immigrants are Needed to Fill America’s Less-Skilled Labor Gap,” March 2014. Available online.
2 Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Industry-Occupation Employment Matrix 2014-2024, April 2016. Available online.
Educational Breakdown of Foreign-Born and Native-Born Populations, 2014
Occupations Dependent on Immigrants
The foreign-born make up 16.5 percent of the working-age population in the United States. In some particularly labor-intensive fields, their role is much greater. From 2008 to 2012, for instance, immigrants made up 72.9 percent of field and crop workers. In other large industries, such as construction, foreign-born workers frequently take on the most physically demanding roles, while U.S.-born workers frequently prefer positions that require more English-language skills or experience in management or customer service. In fact, of the top 10 occupations with the largest share of immigrant workers, nine of them are labor-intensive in nature or involve repetitive, manual tasks.
Sources:
3 Author’s analysis of 2015 American Community Survey data.
Top 10 Occupations with Highest Share of Immigrant Workers, 20153
Help Wanted
Across communities and industries, employers report trouble finding enough workers. Between 2002 and 2014, the number of field and crop workers in America declined by 146,000, causing major labor shortages on U.S. farms. A rapidly aging population also strains the healthcare workforce, a problem likely to worsen as more Baby Boomers retire. In many fields, immigrants can and do help businesses find the workers they need to compete and grow.
Sources:
4 “2016/2017 Talent Shortage Survey: The United States Results,” ManpowerGroup, n.d., Available online.
5 Home Care Pulse. “2015 Private Duty Benchmarking Study.” April 2015.
6 New American Economy, "International Harvest: A Case Study of How Foreign Workers Help American Farms Grow Crops – and the Economy," May 2013. Available online.
Jobs Americans Won’t Do: Evidence from the North Carolina Farming Industry, 20116
The Impact on American Workers
Although long a controversial issue among academics and policymakers, there is widespread evidence that the presence of more immigrants with relatively low levels of education does not substantially displace U.S.-born workers. Instead, a greater supply of less-skilled immigrants is linked to a decrease in offshoring7 and an expansion of firms on U.S. soil8—resulting in net benefits for U.S.-born workers across the board. The unique way in which immigrants frequently slot into the workforce—gravitating toward more manual or repetitive tasks—also means an influx of less-skilled immigrants has only a moderate impact, if any, on the wages of less-educated U.S.-born workers, particularly over the long term. Instead, they compete most directly with other immigrant workers.9
Sources:
7 Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, Giovanni Peri, and Greg C. Wright, “Immigration, Offshoring and American Jobs," National Bureau of Economic Research, October 2010. Available online.
8 William W. Olney, “IMMIGRATION AND FIRM EXPANSION,” Journal of Regional Science 53 (2013), doi:10.1111/jors.12004.
9 Heidi Shierholz, “Immigration and Wages: Methodological Advancements Confirm Modest Gains for Native Workers,” February 4, 2010. Available online.
10 Ibid.
11 Findings come from an NAE report that examines the benefit of a one standard deviation increase in birthplace diversity among workers in the bottom half of all earners in a given workplace or metropolitan area. More details can be found in the full report, available here.
12 Based on an analysis of 1998-2008 data; William W. Olney, “IMMIGRATION AND FIRM EXPANSION,” Journal of Regional Science 53 (2013), doi:10.1111/jors.12004.
Estimated Impact of Immigration on the Wages of Less-Educated Workers, 1994-200710
Wage Impact Felt by Employees in the Same Workplace or City When the Lowest Paid Workers Become More Internationally Diverse11
Number of New Establishments that are Created when the Share of Less-Educated Immigrants in a Metropolitan Area Rises by 10 Percent12
Costs of a Farmworker Shortage
In 2014, more than 56 percent of entry-level farmworkers in the United States were immigrants. Given this, changes in immigrant labor supply tend to ripple across the U.S. agriculture economy. In the last decade, a 75 percent slowdown in the arrival of young, low-skilled immigrant farmworkers meant shortages for entry-level field and crop positions. Many farmers report that the H-2A visa program, which allows the recruitment of foreign-born farmworkers, is too cumbersome and expensive—leaving them few ways to replenish their workforce. The result is many farms cutting their production of fresh fruits and vegetables.13
Sources:
13 “NCAE Survey of 2010 H-2A Employers - Final Summary," National Council of Agricultural Employers, December 2011. Available online.
Decline of Field and Crop Workers in Key States, 2002-2014
Inadequate Visa Programs
Although immigrants already help fill gaps in the U.S. labor force, our current immigration system does not allow employers to recruit enough of the specific workers they need. Employers can sponsor low-skilled workers for an agricultural visa (the H-2A visa), or for a visa designed to meet seasonal demand at venues like hotels, amusement parks, and ski resorts (the H-2B visa). Both programs, however, are cumbersome and outdated. And many of the fields that struggle the most to find workers, including healthcare and construction, lack a dedicated visa altogether. Improvements must be made so more industries—and specific geographies—can recruit temporary foreign-born workers when no Americans are available for the job.
Sources:
14 “NCAE Survey of 2010 H-2A Employers - Final Summary, "National Council of Agricultural Employers, December 2011. Available online.
Make a contribution
Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.
