Labor-Intensive Industries
Helping Immigrant Workers Helps U.S. Workers and Towns, Says Mainer
As the client services coordinator for Mano en Mano (Hand in Hand), Christina Ocampo understands that helping undocumented farmworkers and other immigrants prosper has a positive impact overall on America’s communities. Nationally, undocumented immigrants account for more than 36 percent of the agriculture workforce. And because this… Read More
Inter Press Service: Migrant Contributions to Development: Creating a ‘New Positive Narrative’
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 2017 (IPS) – Despite the “undeniable” benefits of migration, barriers including public misconceptions continue to hinder positive development outcomes, participants said during a series of thematic consultations here on safe, orderly, and regular migration. At a time where divisive rhetoric on migration can… Read More
Bloomberg BNA: Need Employees for Unusual Hours? Seek Foreign-Born Workers
There are jobs in nearly every industry that require employees to work odd hours, and immigrants are increasingly more likely to fill these openings, research finds. Documented immigrants are willing to take these shifts and are an untapped pool to recruit for jobs that employers are likely having trouble filling… Read More
U.S. Farmer Moves His Operations South — Where the Workers Are
Each winter, an estimated two-thirds of the vegetables consumed in the United States are grown in California’s Imperial Valley. One of the largest operations there is the Scaroni Family of Companies, a multimillion-dollar farming enterprise that employs more than 5,000 people and, according to owner Steve Scaroni,… Read More
New Research Shows Immigrants Are More Likely to Move for a Job in Four Key Industries
When Emmanuel Barias, a Philippines-born doctor with U.S. residency training, decided he wanted to practice in the United States, he turned to an initiative specifically designed to meet the needs of rural America. The Conrad 30 Waiver Program allows foreign doctors to remain… Read More
The Washington Post: ‘They said I was going to work like a donkey. I was grateful.’
Like many immigrants, money drew Kazi Mannan to the United States. Making enough to support his father and nine siblings in Pakistan meant not only doing the jobs many Americans shun, but also working the hours many Americans won’t. So the day after he arrived in Washington in 1996, Mannan… Read More
Immigrants Substantially More Likely to Work Nights and Weekends than U.S.-Born, New Study Finds
NEW YORK, New York – A new study from New American Economy shows that of the 30.2 million workers in America working the night shift, weekends, or other unusual working hours, nearly 5.5 million of them are foreign-born. The findings of the report are… Read More
On the Clock: How Immigrants Fill Gaps in the Labor Market by Working Nontraditional Hours
A new study from New American Economy shows that of the 30.2 million workers in America working the night shift, weekends, or other unusual working hours, nearly 5.5 million of them are foreign-born. The findings of the report are based on an analysis of… Read More
Immigrant Worker Shortage Devastates U.S. Mushroom Crops
It was early January and Jim Angelucci had a problem. His Oxford, Pennsylvania, farm had mushrooms ready to harvest, but not enough workers. “The worst thing for a grower is to go to work at 4 o’clock in the morning and not have anyone there,” says Angelucci, the general manager… Read More
Immigrants Ready, Able, and Needed on Wisconsin Dairy Farms
Mar-Bec Dairy has 900 dairy cows and grows feed on 1,800 acres. To keep the operation running, owner Marty Hallock depends on immigrants: 9 of his 17 full-time employees are from Mexico. “These people are committed to dairy farming,” he says, “and absolutely vital to my operation.” Without these steady… 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.
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