California can no longer take influx of immigrants for granted

With sold out “Help Wanted” signs and businesses resorting to greater incentives to recruit and retain employees, it is clear that California’s labor shortage is real. Less acknowledged is that the labor shortage is not just a function of the pandemic: for the first time in its history, California has experienced population decline, which raises concerns about meeting labor demand across the long haul.

One of the ways that California has historically maintained a growing workforce has been through immigration. However, the share of the foreignborn in the state has also been on a steady decline, with the fall most stark in the Los Angeles and San Francisco counties. Part of what is driving immigrants away is what is affecting all Californians: a lack of quality jobs and the skyrocketing costs of housing.

In fact, unaffordability in California affects immigrants even more than others. The median wage for immigrants ($19.43) is lower than the median wage for U.S.-born workers ($26.22). Although naturalized citizens ($24.28) are more likely to gain wage parity with their U.S-born counterparts, the undocumented ($13.11) fare significantly worse as they face disproportionate barriers to entry to the labor market — ultimately because of their status.

Not surprisingly, immigrantheaded households are also more likely to experience rent burden (57.5%) and housing burden (35.2%) than households headed by U.S.-born Californians (51.8% and 28.9%, respectively). Housing unaffordability will continue to persist if policymakers are not able to address the core issues exacerbating rent and housing burden: a limited supply of affordable and accessible housing for all.

Competing for immigrants is new territory for the Golden State. After all, we generally think of ourselves as an immigrant-rich and immigrant